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 December 12, 2022 by j.g.lewis
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Ten years ago, today, I stepped onto a yoga mat for the first time: the twelfth day, of the twelfth month, of 2012.
12/12/12 was a substantial, significant date.
It was the last date of its kind where all three numerals in a date were the same. It wouldn’t happen again for more than 80 years, and I won’t be around to see it.
It was only the day before that I noticed the date and realized I had to do something substantial on such a significant date.
I chose Bikram Hot Yoga and, for the next three years in particular, the practice substantially altered my life. I was more than regular; I was committed to the posture routine over 90 minutes in the hot room that had become almost a second home. It was first a struggle, but aren’t many of the things that are good for you?
My body, my mind, and my breath changed.
I was moving confidently, thinking with clarity, and breathing out my problems rather than holding them in. I learned a great deal about myself, and many of those lessons continue.
I’ve have struggled off and on with consistency. I haven’t been back on the mat lately, certainly not as often as I would have liked, nor as often as I should. When the pandemic lockdown settled in around here (at a time when I really needed yoga) I never got back and took to other forms of routine exercise.
And though I now fumble for excuses, I can only think fondly on what my yoga commitment did for me at a time I really needed it.
10 years: a lot has changed.
I have changed.
I know it. It feel it, I breathe it
It is significant.
12/12/2022 j.g.l.
