The multiple layers of distant mountain ranges presented in deep blue hues, contrasted with the golden skies. The sky is rich with textured golden and cream tones, depicting the warm glow of natural light. My mood was enhanced by the calm and quiet reflections.

At time of writing, this piece is available for purchase here.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Peter Van Giesen

Peter Van Giesen Artist Bio

Peter N. Van Giesen grew up in Ontario and completed university degrees in Psychology & Religion in British Columbia where he currently resides. Inspired by “The Eternal Aura of Nature”, for him, the act of creating art is “a mystical process, a spiritual work…”

Van Giesen describes his painting style as one that hovers between representation, impressionism with a dash of abstract. “I attempt to reach into the fabric of the world exploring the dynamics of tension and elasticity. I create images based on the interplay between darkness and light, the interconnected aura of the natural world.”

Peter was recently featured at Art Tour International

Blog / Website: Peter N Van Giesen Artist

Follow Peter Van Giesen on: Twitter | Facebook

This painting serves as a attempt to capture the majesty and tranquility of both the snow-covered peaks and the contrast between the vibrant greens on the rocky outcrop and the cool blues of the ocean. Harmony and interconnectedness were themes that guided my brush.

At time of writing, this piece is available for purchase here.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Peter Van Giesen

Peter Van Giesen Artist Bio

Peter N. Van Giesen grew up in Ontario and completed university degrees in Psychology & Religion in British Columbia where he currently resides. Inspired by “The Eternal Aura of Nature”, for him, the act of creating art is “a mystical process, a spiritual work…”

Van Giesen describes his painting style as one that hovers between representation, impressionism with a dash of abstract. “I attempt to reach into the fabric of the world exploring the dynamics of tension and elasticity. I create images based on the interplay between darkness and light, the interconnected aura of the natural world.”

Peter was recently featured at Art Tour International

Blog / Website: Peter N Van Giesen Artist

Follow Peter Van Giesen on: Twitter | Facebook

Memento Mori: “Take A Little, Leave A Little”

It would seem on the surface that artists want to share in order to fill some attention void. This can veer into the obnoxious for some. I had a serious poet friend in my youth who would regularly shove a sheaf of papers at anyone within reach demanding, “Read this!”. Sharing has taken on a whole new meaning in the modern digital age, and of course artists and writers want attention for their work, but not for an ego boost. At least not all of us. Amanda Palmer says that as a musician, she wants to be seen, not looked at and notes the distinction. It’s the difference between adoration and connection. I believe process also plays a vital role in this experience.

If someone looks at a painting or reads a poem of mine, I am not looking for praise or compliments (although that is very nice), but something that a viewer or reader might add of their own. Something that says, “Yes! I’ve been to that metaphorical place you write or paint about” (or not). Isn’t communication part of what art is all about? I believe that hidden in every painting or poem are questions begging to be asked. True communication is always best when there is a response or exchange of some sort.

The very process of painting is about communicating with your materials, images, and forms.

If artists and writers are honest however, we will tell you that often we have no idea what we are doing. Most of us rely on a combination of skills, experience and sheer determination to realize a painting or piece of writing. We experiment. We tinker. We “see what happens”. Photographer Sally Mann calls hers a “magpie aesthetic”, scavenging whatever happens to be around to capture with her camera. The creative act is like being an explorer. I go blindly to the vast corners of my imagination and then report back with a tangible record. I want to know if where I’ve been resonates with anyone at all, or whether I’ve only experienced a fever dream on my own. Being left with no observations or reactions is sometimes, to feel unmoored.

But artists thrive on the wisdom of insecurity! (thank you Alan Watts) A more accurate word might be uncertainty. As an explorer, I accept uncertainty as part of the deal, along with a dash of romance. I’m not talking of course, about romance in an erotic sense, or something wrapped up in a Valentine, although there is eroticism in viewing the world from a romantic lens. (Nature is my Valentine).

Both uncertainty and romance seem required to suspend our belief during the creative process until we are convinced of something. I am used to these two states of being. Many of us operate on the fringes of society or convention all our lives, foregoing soul-sucking employment or costly possessions in order to pursue our work. Or perhaps the work teaches us that uncertainty is the only way in. I know that dogged pursuit eventually leads to something. Susan Sontag refers to the the world as an “aesthetic phenomenon”. At my fingertips is a landscape of color, shape, form and movement, without politics, context or agenda. That seems to me the ultimate romantic view. I fell in love with that world view and artists’ interpretation of it at a very young age. It was and remains mysterious to me.

Organized Chaos

Much like the mystery we initially fall in love with in humans. We respond to their being or presence: their look, smell or manner, even though we know little about them. We might even be stopped in our tracks by something that can’t be explained. Paintings can be like that. They act mysteriously on our “nervous system” as Francis Bacon liked to say, before any information or meaning has leaked out. My particular style of working is to obey what I might even call “romantic” impulses and only consider them afterwards. This keeps the uncertainty from slowing down the flow in the studio. Artist William Kentridge believes that one doesn’t have to have a brilliant idea, but a trust in the material in your hands. To trust your impulses as recognizing something that is part of your process.

And what is the need for artists and writers to tell a written or visual “story” in the first place? To share their “impulses”? To some degree it’s built into our DNA as humans to share. We are born to connect; to convey an experience. In presenting my work, I am sharing the experience I had in creating it. Looking at a painting is to have a singular experience as well. Often people who view my paintings relate some very elaborate narrative that they see in the image and wonder if they got it “right”. But of course, there is no right.

Both mundane as well as life-altering experiences invite reflection. Looking at art provides a similar invitation to reflect and ask questions. And there aren’t any wrong ones. To be clear, I am not a believer in “explaining” paintings. The best paintings to my mind retain a bit of ambiguity so that they continue to evolve and change, just as significant experiences in our lives continue to inform and mold us long after they occur. I also don’t consider an audience during the painting process however, in finished paintings, the meaning in my work evolves over time, with contributions from viewers a part of that. Ideally, this is what sharing work with peers can foster.

I have many artist friends who welcome a constructive critique or comment. Emerging from the creative process prompts me to look for shared excitement about where I’ve been (Look what I found! What do you see?). I love to talk about art and making it is my way of starting the conversation.

Photo Credits

Photos by Linda Laino – All Rights Reserved

Guest Author Bio
Linda Laino

Linda Laino is a visual artist and writer who has been making art in one form or another for over 45 years. With an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she received two years of fellowship awards from the Virginia Museum, Laino was influenced by language from a young age, and moves between painting and writing in search of the connections and the crossover. She has shown work regularly in solo and group exhibitions since 1988, when she was awarded a prize from The American Craft Museum in New York. Her work is included in major collections including the McDonough Museum in Ohio, and Fundación Valparaíso in Spain. In recent years, she has been making art around the world at residencies in New Mexico 2015, France 2016, Spain 2018, and Maine in 2023. In June 2024, she traveled to Greece where she was awarded a grant for a month-long stay to paint on the island of Skopelos. Her poems and prose have been published with distinction in many small presses and anthologies, most recently in “La Presa” out of Guanajuato City. Her poem, Poem at Sixty was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. Originally from Philadelphia and Richmond, Virginia, since 2012, she has lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where the color and flavor allow for endless inspiration.

Visit her website: www.lindalaino.com

When using tech to make art, the choices are many. You can pick your colors and effects on a display, or you can use a computer aided device to create those effects on canvas.

Whilst in college I used to teach art classes, and my students were visually challenged. One of my older kids came to class one day, and wanted to draw on paper. They took a sheet, and a marker, and drew a single point. I asked them what they had drawn. They had just hit their arm into a sharp corner, and “this” was what it felt like.

Next, we used a computer aided spray gun to make lots of those points on paper, and with a layering effect. This time, the kid could actually feel around the paper for those sharp points.

The next day, this kid came to class and we painted by hand, lots of sharp dots in a pattern using paint, glitter, glue, and let it dry. I asked them about their piece, and I learnt that they had tried to mimic a mother-board! They had been helping their dad with their home computer and had felt around the mother-board. “Lots of sharp points”, was what they wanted to draw.

In the first instance, tech was just a tool. The next day, however, it turned into inspiration- inspiration to know what you want to make art with!

So, what do you see tech as? A tool? Or inspiration? I’d love to know! And I’ll also see you soon.

G’Bye,
Gaurvi.

Photo Credits

First photo is from Pinterest
Second photo is from Pinterest

Guest Author Bio
Gaurvi Joshi

Gaurvi is a B2B Blogger with her own tech blog. She taught Art to visually challenged students while still at college. She observes artists and creators in her community while engaging in visual art once in a while.

Blog / Website: New Tech

Creative humans are capable of releasing their energy in the form of art. Be it writing poetry, singing a song, creating music, dancing, or drawing and painting pictures. Drawing is just one form of creativity.

So, what is creativity? To answer that question, let us explore the mind of a human. A tiny grain of thought is generated in the mind, which if the body chooses to, can turn into an impulse. If this impulse consumes the brain, the body produces a reaction which could end in creating a piece of art. The ability of the human mind to form a grain of thought is creativity.

While engaging with children who are interested in art books, it would be interesting to the child if books that recognize the human potential to spark a grain of thought are suggested.

In one of my art classes teaching visually challenged students, I observed the total number of students who produced a drawing. The students who were creatively motivated outnumbered the creatively uninspired students. This shows that a grain of thought is necessary for someone to draw.

One afternoon, we were drawing a red circle. My kids (I used to call them that, and, oh, I’m so proud of them!) used a mix of inspiration and instinct to be successful at this task. When a simple grain of thought takes root in a human mind, it has the power to gain momentum through becoming an impulse. It has the power to combine what you want to do with what you know subconsciously. The red circles I saw were an example of this.

A human is a human is a human. If students with special needs can indulge their creativity, so can children who are fully capable by themselves. It is important to invest in resources that are inspiring to children ranging across the spectrum. More important is the ability of these resources to gently encourage the child’s raw ability to form a grain of thought.

We’ve seen the case of humans. How does AI draw? AI is great at observing individual data points and recording them. It then plays a game of Situation and Response. Presented with a particular situation the machine can understand, it pulls out a data point and suggests it as a solution to the situation.

So how would AI draw a red circle? There would absolutely be no grain of thought, leading to an impulse, because machines cannot think and feel. At least not on their own. So the red circle would be one out of many red circles recorded in a database of colored shapes.

So no machine, software, or AI would be capable of generating art by itself. In training today’s children to interact with AI it is necessary to stock up on resources and actual software that cater to a child’s ability of thought. A dry laundry list of instructions, however, would not suffice on its own. The resources should help the child acknowledge their ability and match it up with what the software can pull out.

That’s the story of drawing, Creativity, and AI. I hope you liked it. This is my first time featuring at Life As A Human! I’ll see you again, soon.

G’Bye,

Gaurvi.

Image Credit

Image is from Pinterest

Guest Author Bio
Gaurvi Joshi

Gaurvi is a B2B Blogger with her own tech blog. She taught Art to visually challenged students while still at college. She observes artists and creators in her community while engaging in visual art once in a while.

Blog / Website: New Tech

Before it advertised Braum’s Milk, this little building advertised the Townley Milk Company and housed what might be the smallest store in all of Oklahoma City, selling, well, mostly beer.

Built in 1963, the design of the Founders Tower was and is now a favorite well known landmark on the NW quadrant of Oklahoma City. It was first offices anchored by a bank and now luxury condo’s and apartments.

Image Credits

All Images Are © DARRELL SMITH

Guest Artist Bio
Darrell T. Smith

Darrell T. Smith is a real estate broker, writer and artist from Oklahoma City. He has written and published many short stories (including Life As a Human) and is the illustrator and publisher of the Big Branson Coloring Book.

Website: Darrell T Smith Art & Design
Follow Darrell on Facebook

Man made the machines which now dream

Enhanced Creativity and Exploration

AI technology has the potential to expand artists’ creative horizons by providing them with tools and algorithms that push the boundaries of traditional art forms. With AI-generated art, artists can delve into uncharted territories, exploring unconventional styles, and creating entirely new visual experiences. By feeding AI systems with vast amounts of artistic data, artists can leverage machine learning algorithms to discover fresh perspectives, unexpected combinations, and novel techniques, thus expanding their creative repertoire.

Collaborative Partnerships with AI

In the future, artists will likely engage in collaborative partnerships with AI systems, blurring the line between human creativity and artificial intelligence. Through interactive interfaces, artists can communicate their visions to AI algorithms, which can then generate preliminary concepts, offer suggestions, or even co-create artworks. This symbiotic relationship between humans and machines will enable artists to tap into the vast computational power and pattern recognition capabilities of AI, augmenting their own artistic abilities and allowing for a more immersive and experimental creative process.

Artists and AI will have profound impact on expression

Democratising Artistic Expression

AI-powered tools and platforms are poised to democratise artistic expression by making art creation more accessible and inclusive. As AI systems become more sophisticated, they can assist individuals with limited artistic skills in transforming their ideas into visually captivating artworks. This democratisation will empower a broader range of people, transcending traditional barriers and enabling individuals from diverse backgrounds to engage in the creative process. AI-generated art can become a medium for personal expression, social commentary, and cultural exploration, fostering a richer and more diverse artistic landscape.

A Profound Positive Impact on Artist’s Visions

As AI technology continues to evolve, it will not replace human artists but rather amplify their creative potential. By automating repetitive tasks, providing inspiration, and offering innovative tools, AI frees artists to focus on the core aspects of their craft—conceiving unique concepts, infusing emotions into their work, and pushing the boundaries of human imagination. With AI as a collaborative partner, artists can envision and bring to life artworks that were once unimaginable, thereby expanding the frontiers of art and inspiring new artistic movements. Ultimately, the profound positive impact of AI on artists’ visions lies in the harmonious fusion of human creativity and the computational capabilities of machines, propelling the world of art into a captivating and unexplored future.

In conclusion, the integration of AI technology into the artistic process holds immense potential. With enhanced creativity, collaborative partnerships, and increased accessibility, AI stands as a powerful ally for artists, propelling them to new heights of expression and enabling the realisation of previously unattainable artistic visions. Embracing AI in art promises a future that is both transformative and deeply inspiring.

Image Credits

Images are by Gerald Lee Farrell – All Rights Reserved

Guest Artist Bio
Gerald Lee Farrell

Gerald Lee Farrell is a visionary digital artist based in the United Kingdom, pushing the boundaries of creativity by harnessing the power of AI. With a passion for exploring the intersection of art and technology, Farrell is at the forefront of the artistic movement that embraces AI as a transformative tool.

Combining his artistic sensibilities with cutting-edge AI algorithms, Farrell creates captivating artworks that defy traditional conventions. His work reflects a deep understanding of both the artistic process and the potential of AI to enhance and expand creative possibilities. By leveraging AI, Farrell explores uncharted artistic territories, generating mesmerising visuals that captivate audiences and challenge their perceptions of what art can be.

Through collaborative partnerships with AI systems, Farrell has discovered a new realm of artistic expression. He engages in a dynamic dialogue with the AI algorithms, exchanging ideas, refining concepts, and co-creating artworks. This unique synergy between human creativity and machine intelligence results in a harmonious blend of artistic vision and computational ingenuity, pushing the boundaries of artistic innovation.

With a focus on democratising art, Farrell is passionate about making the creative process accessible to a wider audience. Through his AI-powered tools and platforms, he empowers individuals with diverse backgrounds and limited artistic skills to explore their own creative potential. His mission is to inspire and enable everyone to express their unique perspectives through art, fostering a more inclusive and vibrant artistic community.

To experience Gerald Lee Farrell’s groundbreaking work and delve into the mesmerising world of AI-infused art, visit his website at Geraldleefarrell.com. 

Well, this customer service rep picks up a paintbrush, makes a painting, and then turns it into one of the hardest “I Spy”-style TikTok challenges yet.

The reason?

To take her mind off work. To avoid being defined by her job. To become what customers never see: an artist.

You see white clouds, but can you spot a GIRL IN A WHITE DRESS?

Unlike an office, a puzzle is mentally stimulating. It challenges you to use your brain and eyes in creative ways to complete the challenge involved. That’s why Belinda Tagoe, a local Atlanta artist, made her art into a child’s plaything for adults. It’s well-known that puzzles are a way to keep your brain in tip-top shape. But, what’s another thing that happens when you’ve forgotten about the drudgery of work for a few moments?

You become a kid again.

The only thing warmer and cosier than these fall colours is that house. Can you find it?

Being an adult involves being in Corporate America.

• You work rote jobs.
• You’re shackled to someone else’s schedule
• You think about retirement, housing, politics, and other adult stuff
• You might worry about the future of our economy and society

The world loses its sense of fun, as a result.

Okay, that’s Bank of America Plaza to the left. And, that’s _______________ to the right.

Technically, you have more freedom as an adult, but, in some ways, you have more freedom as a child. When fewer duties occupy your head space, you can fill it with more colors and joy. That’s what these puzzles are about. They’re all about mindless escapism.

And, if someone’s working a bleak job like customer service, why couldn’t they use some of that?

I bet you won’t find the penguin in this picture.

You can see the videos here on TikTok.

Photo Credits

Images are (c) Belinda Tagoe – All Rights Reserved

Guest Artist Bio
Belinda Tagoe

Born in January 1996, Belinda Tagoe is a painter and an illustrator. She’s been making art since 1999 (early starter). Belinda’s not the type to ponder about the deeper meaning or the socioeconomic implications of every painting that she makes. Instead, she sees everyday objects like a car, an elephant, a piece of broccoli, or a teapot and thinks, “hey, what would this look like in a different setting?”. The end result? Some of the surrealist and idyllic pieces that you see before you. Her artworks are an escape from reality. Her main goal is to make sure that, for 10 minutes a day, you aren’t thinking about mindless 9-5 busy work or rent. 

When she’s not painting, she’s reading about meteorology. She’s a heck of a weather geek!  Also, her favorite surrealist painter is Salvador Dali. 

Website: belleroseart.com 
Instagram: @marmaladepop88
TikTok: @marmaladepop88

Opening of the Han Yuchen National Art Museum exhibition

Han Yuchen’s works are unique, because if the academic style of the artist achieves a pictorial realism such as it is similar to photography, it nevertheless leaves enough room, spontaneity and liberty in the gesture, so that the painting itself transcribes the emotions and what the artist depicts on his canvas.

Han Yuchen’s painting is very forged in Chinese academicism, which he learned alongside with masters such as Li Hua (李桦1907-1994), Su Gaoli (苏高丽) and Liang Yulong (梁玉龙1922-2011), and was also strongly influenced by the work of some of his peers like Dong Xiwen (董希文1914-1973), Chen Danqing (陈丹青) or Ai Xuan (艾轩). This style, which the artist has retained throughout his career, is at odds with the Chinese contemporary movement that obtained international recognition. In China, the National Art Museum in Beijing made a full retrospective of his work in 2022, and he has been internationally acclaimed.

Han Yuchen at the National Art Museum exhibition

He has been a professor at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Saint Petersburg. Amongst other solo exhibitions of Han Yuchen, mention should be made of those held at the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris, Repin Academic Institute in Saint Petersburg, Brussels, and Lahasa. Following his accomplishment in Tibet’s sacred capital was Han Yuchen’s first solo exhibition in Italy, “The Realm of Purity”, held at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence.

Photo Credits

Photos are by Maximin Berko – all rights reserved

Guest Author Bio
Miranda Coppeland

Miranda Coppeland is an international art critic based in Los Angeles.

Yet… my eyelids are hanging. I’m yawning. I’m filled to the brim with dread and misery. I had a full night’s rest. Slept a peaceful 9 hours. What’s going on? Why do I feel so empty?

Simple.

I had just come back from the greatest Christmas vacation I ever had. Went to the movies with my family. Enjoyed a hearty Christmas dinner. I devoured a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, almost like the Thanksgiving dinner that we had just a month ago. Sugar cookies, my favorite sweets ever, were dessert.

But, just 3 weeks later, I was about to clock in and take more back-to-back phone calls from pissed customers. You see, I was working a call center job for a large financial services company. You have to know just how emotional people can get about their money. I had just 5 more minutes before a flood of phone calls came ringing in. As someone who’d done call center work for 2 years, I felt less and less like a human being.

“I’ve gotta get out of here. Only reason I’m here is for the cash anyway”, I thought. But, no sense complaining. If you have a problem, then find a solution. I shifted from “I’m miserable” to “what could I do to escape call center work?”.

It was this very moment that I recalled a commission that I finished in college. Montreal, Canada. Yes, that name was familiar because I made a painting for a school staff member who visited this city and wanted a way to memorialize it. This man loved it so much that he bought a print and hung it in his apartment.

I wondered, “Obviously, other people hate their jobs. There’s no way that school staffer was the only person who visited a cool city and wanted a painting of it. What about painting glow-in-the-dark paintings of city skylines?”. Yes, I loved this idea.

I always have random ideas for artworks. I’m the kind of person who’d paint an Ice Age landscape of a woolly mammoth enjoying a waterfall, a port at the Aegean Sea in Greece, or something as surreal as a teacup solar system. As an artist, it’s always been my aim to transport viewers to an almost mythical or surrealist location that they’ll never see in their daily lives so that they can forget about the endless rat race for a moment. I sat on this idea for several months. But, finally, I decided to start working on this painting series.

I cherish the work that I make, and I’m happy to have earned a few awards as a new artist, such as the Finalist Award for Art Show International’s 2022 International Juried Art Competition for my detailed landscapes. I don’t make art just to show how great of an artist I am. I make art to help people see that there’s more to life than mindless jobs. There’s plenty that this world has to offer beyond the 9-5 grind. If I can make someone realize that through a glow-in-the-dark painting of a city that they love, then I’m good to go.

Photo Credits

Images are (c) Belinda Tagoe – All Rights Reserved

Guest Artist Bio
Belinda Tagoe

Born in January 1996, Belinda Tagoe is a painter and an illustrator. She’s been making art since 1999 (early starter). Belinda’s not the type to ponder about the deeper meaning or the socioeconomic implications of every painting that she makes. Instead, she sees everyday objects like a car, an elephant, a piece of broccoli, or a teapot and thinks, “hey, what would this look like in a different setting?”. The end result? Some of the surrealist and idyllic pieces that you see before you. Her artworks are an escape from reality. Her main goal is to make sure that, for 10 minutes a day, you aren’t thinking about mindless 9-5 busy work or rent. 

When she’s not painting, she’s reading about meteorology. She’s a heck of a weather geek!  Also, her favorite surrealist painter is Salvador Dali. 

Website: belleroseart.com 
Instagram: @marmaladepop88
TikTok: @marmaladepop88