• Blog

    Playing with AI

    One of the teachers I work with showed me a new feature on my phone and I’ve been having a bit of fun playing with it. It uses AI and selected styles to create a “remixed” image.

    For example I started with this image of a sleepy bee that was in my last post.

    And the remixed image turned out like this…

    Isn’t that wild!!

    Next I tried this image of my buddy Marvin.

    And these are the various results using different styles.

    As an artist, I have some hesitation about using AI. But I won’t deny that it has a really fun component with images.

    Teachers I have worked with have used AI images to enhance presentations to make them more engaging for students. I feel that it has a place but cannot supplant real world facts and knowledge.

  • Blog

    T Tuesday: garden XL edition

    Hello friends…it’s been a while.

    We’ve still been having some back of the website issues that are hopefully resolved now. That being said, I didn’t have it in me to waste time on posting when I wasn’t sure things were actually going to work.

    With it being Autumn in MN, we either have blistering heat reminiscent of August, crazy winds drying things out or cold and dreary days that make you want to crawl back in bed. Okay, its not actually that dismal…It truly is my favorite season. I guess I’m just cranky about the blistering heat that seemed to linger well past its welcome.

    I am happy for the extended growing season though…

    I think the bees are as well. We caught a few napping in the blooms.

    I did one final harvest before pulling up all my veggie plants from the shed garden. The carrots made me laugh. They weren’t even baby carrots for the most part…they were more like carrot bites.

    However, there was this monster cucumber that was hiding between the shed and the lattice fencing. I laughed all the way into the house to show Mr. G who had to snap a picture of the ridiculous size.

    After pulling up everything I was left with this…

    until yesterday when we expanded the shed garden!

    Obviously it’s not done…I pulled up as much grass as I could muster then covered it with cardboard to kill the rest before bring in some soil, compost etc.

    I’m super excited about the extra growing space this will provide.  Next spring before planting starts we will enclosing it in fencing to keep out the critters. We have no shortage of wildlife that seem to think I am growing food for them.

    Otherwise middle school life continues as usual…water bottle in tow with me class to class.

    I do have some good news as well. I met with my oncologist last week and I am officially two years into remission from my lymphoma. Crazy enough, later that same day I gave a presentation to three separate 7th grade Biology classes about radiation treatments for cancer and brought my mask to show them.

    Being at the front of the classroom is not my strong suit but I was happy to share and answer questions from the students. The best one was “So were you radioactive after the treatments?” I mean, valid question from a 12 yr old.  Nope, no super powers for me.

    I can’t leave you without a picture of Marvin…

    No he does not have a broken leg but from the angle I was sitting, it totally looked that way. I’m also sharing this picture in particular because the next time there is a couch photo of Marvin it will be on new furniture! We’ve had this set for over 20 years and finally purchased new ones this morning to be delivered later this week. We are not sure they will be “Marvin approved” because he loves the large arms of the couch…hence the fur covered blankets just for him. However time marches on and he’ll have to get used to something new. We’ll still provide the fur covered blanket for his enjoyment. HA!

    Tuesday has me back to work after a 5 day break!
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Keep moving forward

     

    I decided to play along with Mia’s theme of “make your own background” over on Art Journal Journey this month.

    Truth be told I’ve been wanting to play with paint lately but most of my crafting lately has been done in my sewing room…basically because I’d made my basement craft zone unusable. I’ve been working on sorting and cleaning. Finally made enough room to paint!!

    I had intended this journal to be a writing and keepsake journal but it spoke to me to be used today. Who knows…maybe it will be a bit of everything. There are no rules with creativity.

    I did a bit of finger painting on then put down a stencil and wiped away a bit of the paint leaving some fun circles. After waiting for that to dry…ugh, I hate that part…I used a flourish stamp to add a bit more interest.

    Lastly I layered a couple bits of paper then added a chipboard floral focal point and a Tim Holtz words sticker.

    The layered paper and fabric piece at the bottom of the page was already attached as a tiny pocket before I started. I made it work with the overall design.