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Posts Tagged ‘art’

Witness What’s Hidden

Posted in Other, Science!, tagged , , , , , , on January 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I tried to skip past this link and couldn’t. 

An augmented-reality filter reveals the hidden movements all around us

This simple technique produces dazzling results, causing tree branches to shimmer as they sway in the wind, dust particles to become bold beams of light, and camouflaged insects and animals to be instantly unveiled. De Boer’s montage serves not only as a free and easy tutorial on the possibilities of this creative tool, but also as eye candy for anyone keen to witness the hidden patterns of movement that surround us.

The effect is fascinating. In some ways it’s the opposite of a time-lapse, which captures what remains still and merges motion. Here, movements that typically remain hidden are visible. Like a camouflaged deer, or blowing leaves, or even footprints.

While some examples are just pretty, it’s hard not to jump to the scientific and creative possibilities of this technique. I haven’t explored video effects, but this makes me want to start.

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Photo by Tradd Harter on Unsplash

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Know Your Limits (In a Good Way)

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“You need to drop glass on the floor, get the burns, all those things. The real practice is in all the pieces that didn’t make it, the cliched blood, sweat and tears. You can’t know the limits of something unless you’ve failed.”

— Will Shakspeare, artisan glassblower

And you can still make something beautiful along the way.

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Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash

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Today, Meet Tomorrow

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Ken Liu is one of our modern masters of speculative fiction. The first story of his that I read was “The Paper Menagerie,” “the first piece of fiction to win three genre literary awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award.”

So he’s pretty good.

He’s also been thinking about art, AI and the evolving relationship between them. Here’s his new story:

Future Science Fiction Digest – Good Stories

Clara’s favorite part of the workday is the very beginning.

She likes flipping the switches on the wall right inside the office entrance, all sixteen of them, different colors and laid out in two neat columns, like the console from an old NASA space capsule that she got to sit inside once on a school trip to DC. As she takes a sip of her latte, her right hand running up the wall, click-click-click, flipping one switch after another, she imagines herself turning on rocket engines, initiating a docking maneuver, venting some dangerous alien spores out the airlock.

The story is one of the many interesting pieces in The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI, edited by Alex Shvartsman with an impressive roster of authors.

Today’s software can only imitate art, but what about tomorrow?

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Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

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This Guy!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I was feeling pretty not terrible about closing in on three years of daily posts here, but this guy! Writing, recording and releasing an album every day? Seriously impressive.

‘Like brushing my teeth’: how Michiru Aoyama writes, records and releases an album every day

For two years, the Kyoto musician has risen at five, watched football, then made an eight-track album of super-deep ambient music – while fitting in a two-hour walk.

I’m still feeling not terrible about my streak, but this gives me an extra dose of inspiration. Win win!

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Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

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True Strength

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , on November 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”

― Vincent Van Gogh

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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Caution: Wet Paint

Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

John Oliver’s recent shenanigans in New Zealand’s Bird of the Century contest has me thinking about birds, and I remembered this site from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 

Wall of Birds

This interactive mural showcases 270 of the interesting birds around us. Zoom in and click to learn more about each species. And if New Zealand’s competition wasn’t enough for you, you can vote for your favorites.

I enjoy a lot of these birds (the Drongo, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hoopoe, puffins!), but the Blue-footed Booby looks like it took a wrong turn and missed the “Caution: Wet Paint” sign. Delightful.

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Photo by Andy Brunner on Unsplash

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Do You Doodle?

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This is for the artists out there.

New tool lets artists fight AI image bots by hiding corrupt data in plain sight

From Hollywood strikes to digital portraits, AI’s potential to steal creatives’ work and how to stop it has dominated the tech conversation in 2023. The latest effort to protect artists and their creations is Nightshade, a tool allowing artists to add undetectable pixels into their work that could corrupt an AI’s training data…

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Photo by James Kemp on Unsplash

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Irresponsible Speculations in Art History, or, Lady Giselle’s Night Watch

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Let me preface this musing with the statement that I know very little about art, art history, Rembrandt, Dutch social history of the 17th century, or most related issues.

I do, however, know that dead chickens and fashion don’t usually mix. 

Two of my parental units visited the Rijksmuseum this summer and saw The Night Watch, which inspired a recent discussion about the painting’s history, size and purpose. I pulled up the digital version on the museum’s website so that we could examine the details. The page was still up on my phone when I opened my browser today, and I decided to zoom in on the strangest element in the picture: a well-dressed woman in the midst of a group of heavily armed and armored men, her figure, clothing and purse, all glowing as if under a spotlight.

I take that back. She wasn’t the strangest thing about this picture. The strangest thing was that the aforementioned well-dressed woman was wearing… a chicken?

One thing I love about the move to digitize many museum holdings is that you can see details not usually visible, unless you are viewing the art in person. Using the Rijksmuseum’s Rijksstudio, I was able to zoom in on the subject in question and inspect her unusual accessory. Here it is:

Detail from The Night Watch, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1642, via the Rijksmuseum’s Rijksstudio

That inspired this exchange with my father:

Again, I know very little about art history and am probably wrong about every single bit of this. I am having fun speculating on the importance of that well-dressed woman, her prominently featured silk purse, and of course, her chicken.

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Photo by Arib Neko on Unsplash

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Art on the Wind

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on August 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This morning: hot oatmeal and a cool breeze from the patio door. We leave the door open for the fresh air, which brings the scent of wildlife to entertain the cat, as well as some of the unexpected moments of aggravation and joy that help make a life.

Aggravation: noise from a construction site down the block.

Joy: halfway through breakfast, I hear a beat, a pattern drummed out as from a wooden handle on a large metal surface. It is from the construction site, but it is not the sound of machinery or backup beeps or men shouting. Is it a wheelbarrow, a water drum, a backhoe scoop? Whatever the source, there is both intention and musicality. A bored worker, perhaps, or an aspiring musician. Or just someone inspired to create a moment of beauty in an otherwise average day. 

And then send that art out into the world, carried on the wind.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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Talent, Shared

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The week-long Writers of the Future workshop included a number of interviews touching on topics ranging from our work, how we made it to the contest, to what it was like to win. One of these interviews was for the contest’s own podcast, and we were asked to do an episode. 

Constant blogging aside, I’m actually a bit shy, and I was not looking forward to talking for an hour All About Me. As I headed up to the interview room, I realized that there were already three other winners inside. It was my lucky day: all four of us did the interview together and it was terrific. If you follow this site you’ve seen Elaine’s work before, but here she talks about her history and her writing. Sarah and April are both brilliant illustrators, and it was fascinating to hear more about that side of the contest, as well as their experiences on the way to becoming winners.

Chatting with such interesting and talented women was a great experience. Hope you enjoy the interview too.

Stream episode 237. 4 Award-winning authors and artists discuss their journeys to winning

— Elaine Midcoh, author of “A Trickle in History” (elainemidcoh.wordpress.com) 

— J.R. Johnson, author of “Piracy for Beginners” (jrjohnson.me)

— Sarah Morrison, illustrator of “Death and the Taxman” (sarahmorrisonillustration.com)

— April Solomon, illustrator of “Moonlight and Funk” (AprilSolomonArt.com)

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