What shows
how little
we know?
What can be is
oft far less than
what we expect.
What is now
has never been
what it was.
07/25/2024 j.g.l.
value beyond
Simplicity.
Is there emotion in austerity?
Humanity?
What do you see when attempting
to define your limited visibility?
Minimalism, abstract impressionism
or incorporeal thought.
Less is more, but is it enough?
Texture, tone, and value beyond
your current scene. If you take it to an
extreme, you will question
what it means.
What is really there?
What line do you cross?
Can simplicity be complicated, or
should it even be attempted?
07/23/2024 j.g.l.
Mondays are just young Fridays
Things will not go as planned. Intentions will be disrupted, even overlooked, in the aftermath of an unexpected reality.
Where you are headed will not be the place you end up, undoubtedly or undeniably. No matter how hard you attempt to make each gesture, brushstroke, promise, prayer, or pastime as perfect as you believe it can be, many times you will not arrive at a perceived destination. All too often your endeavors never hit the mark; at times your work may be better than expected (celebrate those moments), but everything (even your judgement) is subjective.
You are not limited to, or by, the colours in your paintbox or progression of your process.
Imagination is as limited or expansive as you want it to be. Give it time to blossom; in certain instances, you may even have to reel it in. This is all about possibilities, no matter which media, method, or style you are beholden to.
You owe your art (or life) nothing but your presence; the value comes from the practice, as rudimentary or spontaneous as it is or will become.
07/22/2024 j.g.l.
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
Mondays are just young Fridays
Posted on November 9, 2020 by j.g.lewis
Leave a comment
Last Friday, the weather warmer than we deserve, I jumped on my bike and rode down to the lakeshore.
A November bike ride is rare.
It felt more like September, or August. I took my paint box with me.
During August I’d been making this same trip weekly.
I’d ride down to the lakeshore to paint. It was part of my August Art Immersion, and my ‘non-judgmental paint sessions’ were part of simply returning, or respecting (or rediscovering) creativity.
In August, this pandemic was weighing heavily (as it is now) and I needed to do something to break or disrupt the dysthymia I’d been feeling. Each day in August I immersed myself in something artistic.
Last Friday, it felt good to go back to the lakeshore, and to painting.
It doesn’t matter what I paint — even though the tree directly ahead of me was the same tree I visited in August — it matters only that I paint.
I can’t be critical of what appears on the page because that defies the object of the process, or the object of painting… or of art
It must just be there.
Yes, I always seek to improve, but on ‘non-judgmental’ painting days I am looking only to improve my mood.
It is what it is.
I am what I am.
Art reminds me.
11/09/2020 j.g.l.
