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 February 12, 2024 by j.g.lewis
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It’s funny; I don’t really consider myself a planner.
Often, I think, I prefer spontaneity when allowed. I seem to take advantage of spontaneity when it becomes available to me. Or, I suppose, that’s what I would like to think.
I find ways, or have intentions, for how I fill my time, all the time.
I’ve got a couple of manuscripts always at the “almost completed” stage.
I know poetry month doesn’t happen until April, yet I’ve already begun collecting prompts, and I have notebooks and folders of words or ideas, perhaps even complete poems in need of a good edit.
I also have sketches and photographs and notes for paintings, or styles of paintings, I wish to embark on (or attempt) when I have more time and space.
I have lists, mental lists if nothing more, of things I want to do.
It is something I do. I guess, or I say, I’ve always got something on the go.
I’ve always, it seems, got something to complete or something I want to do.
Poems, manuscripts, paintings; I have many plans for many artistic projects.
And still, I don’t call myself a planner.
I think ahead. I know I do that a lot. But I never refer to it as “planning”.
If that’s not planning, it is creating intentions — perhaps, even expectations — for what I wish to accomplish.
This is how I seem to fill my time.
But why?
Why is it necessary for me to fill my time, all the time?
My dayplanner, for the next couple of days, has no appointments, no must dos or to-do lists, but it is not as if I don’t have plans.
I have to have plans, for I am a planner, even if I won’t admit it to myself.
02/12/2024 j.g.l.
