Approximating the Landscape of Truth

​"Approximating the Landscape of Truth" - oil on linen canvas, 26 x 32 x 1.5 inches.  Ready to hang.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

Question your maps and models of the universe, both inner and outer, and continually test them against the raw input of reality. Our maps are still maps, approximating the landscape of truth from the territories of the knowable — incomplete representational models that always leave more to map, more to fathom, because the selfsame forces that made the universe also made the figuring instrument with which we try to comprehend it.
​ - from THE MARGINALIAN

We're going diving into AI today.  How can we use it as a constructive tool?

It turns out the AI bot can be a pretty good art critique group.  It is willing to point you in a direction without apology or beating around the bush.  And then it will point you in a new direction without apologizing for the first one.  Ha ha!

Approximating the Landscape of Truth

Let's dive!

​​For the initial painting, I began with a photo from one of our forest wanders, and asked the AI bot to give me an abstracted landscape interpretation of it.  After wading through a few dozen images, I found one I liked pretty well and painted a version of it.

my original painting from an AI interpretation of my photo

​I​t hung in the studio for a month - I looked at it in every light and just shrugged.  Ho hum, I thought.  I wanted something more abstracted, more textured and gritty.  Normally I would just attack it with paint, but I decided to ask the AI bot - what now?  And told it "textured, gritty, abstracted".  After a few dozen suggestions, it came up with this:   (grid lines added with PicSplit)

​Thoughts:  seeing the various versions suggested by the AI bot helped me really see what was working, what was not, and what could work much better - along with what would not work better, because the bot's suggestions can be kitschy and overly commercial looking sometimes.

AI's suggestion

I then attacked my original piece with paint.

Adding some grid lines to keep things organized, then blocking in the darks based on the revised composition.  

​Thoughts: the bot kept the composition fairly similar in the suggestions, which made transforming this piece pretty simple.  This helped me see how some minor adjustments could really make a good painting, without starting again from scratch.

blocking in the new darks

The revised inspiration image was much softer, so most of my time was spent softening everything with layers of thinned paint, rubber wedges, brushes, paper towels and fingers.  Ghost images left behind from the original painting add depth and interest to the background.  Adding paint, then removing some to reveal hints of the past.

Thoughts:  the shapes suggested in the revised image were much simpler.  It was easier to see where things in the original painting had become fussy as I worked at whittling away many of the small shapes.

softening all the hard lines

The suggested color pop was tricky - it appeared to lay upon the painting in parts, and was a part of the scene in others.  This took a few layers, with the final one added with brisk passes of a laden rubber wedge - resisting the urge to blend that final layer in.

After that, refining some of the shapes, adding warmth to the sky and texture with chopsticks and paint, dripping paint and flicks of a paper towel.

Thoughts: the final revised piece tics all of the boxes I was hoping for in the first piece. Things I should have known from experience (simpler shapes, softer transitions, hints and suggestions instead of obvious forms) were much easier to recognize when viewing a dozen variations of the original painting. 

adding the color pop

Finished piece, in situ

AI causes many of us to wince, cringe, shrink, fear, feel disheartened (its product can be very, very good). For artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, game designers and so many other professions, it can feel overwhelming.  As with most new technology, I tend to try it and see if it fits anywhere in the toolbox.  

What are your thoughts on AI as a creative tool?  Leave a comment below.  One (or more) lucky commenter will be selected at random to win an original piece of art!

---

COMING NEXT WEEKEND!  ​The once-a-year-save-the-paintings-from-the-gesso sale!  It only happens once per year - paintings will fly the coop or be fully vandalized by the artist. Muwahaha!