Needless to say I’ve been carefully balancing my time between work on the commission for Caplan Art Designs and time for rest and playing towards the art exhibits scheduled for this year. The commission has a firm deadline and I’m steadily on schedule. In order to stay on schedule I’ve let go of much of my social media. If I haven’t responded to you this is why. Anyway, around the commission priority comes work towards a new painting series.
As I mentioned last week extra paint from the commission gets used on another painting in progress. This way I don’t get distracted from the commission and am still making progress towards future exhibits. Last week I was working on this painting and this week I finished it.
Here’s a Reel of my new painting “In The Meantime” in progress along side the song “Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn2vDiBMvIR/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
As I mentioned on my recent email newsletter I’ve been reading and thinking about time. Specifically time and creativity. Human brains simply need time in order to put ideas together. Here’s some of what I’ve been reading. (Details about the books are available here https://bookshop.org/shop/clancy)
Yes, despite being busy I’m still carefully making time to read every day. It’s how I maintain my creative focus, enthusiasm and fun. Same with my sketchbook work which I share via my email newsletter.
A book – whether a library book or a personal notebook/sketchbook – occupies time in uniquely personal ways. The reader moves through time and space as they page through a book at their own pace and magically whole worlds, memories and ideas are built letter by letter, word by word, page by page in the readers mind!
As I say on another page of my website the definition of an “artist book” is “… a book conceived as an art object. It reveals a story over time and space using a combination of content and art techniques in a way that directly involves the viewers participation. “
Books and artwork both use time – time itself – as a creative technique!!! These thoughts about time and the book format also lead me to thinking more about handwriting, hand created art, handmade books and the value of the handmade in this Artificial Intelligence, rush rush, hurry hurry, often prefabricated and canned world. Can both handmade paintings, handmade books and handwriting be analogous to homemade cooking? What does it mean to be real? To be authentic? To be human? To be a time bound being that exists in space?
There is no one grand answer to any of these questions (that would be too hedgehog-y – in reference to the book “The Hedgehog and the Fox” by Isaiah Berlin) but all of this is in my mind as I work. You’ll see some evidence of my musings on these topics in the upcoming illustrated short story about an alien in outer space on my email newsletter…🤣… but I digress.
I hope you too are being mindful of your time this week. It’s a precious resource. Thank you for sharing time with me. See you next Monday.
Have you weighed in on using AI for art and/or writing? I’d be interested in what you think. If you haven’t given it any thought, don’t worry about it–get back to work!
Yes. I am currently giving AI a lot of thought … thus all of my reading about time, creativity and what it means to be real, authentic and human. I don’t want to categorically say “no” to new things just because they’re new. I prefer the “try at least one bite” dinner table approach to life. For example I gave the “self checkout” automaton stations in grocery stores a lot of thought, reading and writing about them, trying them a number of times before deciding, at least for now, I don’t like them and prefer to wait in line to be checked out by a human being. Similarly with smartphones. I observed them, read about them etc before giving a smartphone a trial…and deciding it’s useful within limits and adopting phone use within my own parameters. Early in the life of personal computers I did digital art quite seriously for years before ultimately deciding that I prefer getting my hands dirty with paints and inks…I’m willing to risk paper cuts while folding paper to make books. Much digital art had/has a mass produced in a factory feel that I began to dislike. Ebooks too have gotten topically study by me…
Yes, I overthink lots of things 🤣
So with the caveat that my opinions are in flux so far the AI artwork and writing that I have seen/read has a sameness to all of it, an unpalatable blandness akin to the interstate highway fast food.
Getting back to work now and I’m very curious about your thoughts re…
From what I’ve been reading about AI for visual art, there are copyright concerns since the bot uses already-existing images created by human artists. If I had to assign a hierarchy, it would be human-generated art, human-generated illustration, and AI-generated images. I am firmly of the belief that art (regardless of mode of creative expression) is the singular domain of humans and it always will be–otherwise it’s not art. Art, including literature, is the expression of one person’s experience of what it means to be human. I could see AI being used to churn out advertising copy and such. I’m thinking about giving it a try for writing book blurbs, which I’m really bad at.
Yes. Lots and lots of concerns about AI and visual art copyrights…
I’m in complete agreement with you re the hierarchy you outline!!
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Great minds, as they say. 🙂
Time and our perception of it is so fascinating. I believe you and I first bonded as blog friends over the shared reading experience of Jay Griffiths’ book that you pictured here again. It’s one I’ve kept on my shelf even after many donations to our local library and tiny free libraries.
I wish you the best with the deadlines. It sounds like your creative ideas are flowing well and keeping you moving ahead on the commission with gusto! Enjoy!!
Yes!!! I keep and reread Griffith’s book often!!! On another timely topic 😘 I just tried to reply to your blog post and WP didn’t allow it and I don’t at this moment have time to whack my head against that technological brick wall so here’s what I wanted to comment on your wonderful post: “Funny that you mention time… I’m currently reading Time and the Art of Living by Robert Grudin… and I’m also reading short stories by Philip K Dick.
Anyhoo…don’t we time travel every day? It’s such a challenge to remain in the present moment 😊
I enjoyed your post today! Thank you!! Happy travels through space and time today!”
Yes, we absolutely time travel everyday, don’t we. I hadn’t quite thought of it like that. And our ability to visit the past in memories or project what the future might look like is remarkable. Many of us have trouble living in the present moment. Good comments. I’m sorry you were unable to enter it into the discussion on my post.
Enjoy the books and stories, Sue!!
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