Something different this week.
After injuring my coccyx two weeks ago, I was in constant low-grade pain. Most days I couldn’t concentrate properly on the written word, whether reading much or writing, so I cooked, moved around, did Heartwork movements, listened to music and The Sacred Podcast and generally took things gently. Even making my usual organisational lists was tricky. I now know what it is like to be genuinely listless…
Rest was the right choice. A couple of days ago I sat and drew some sketches for these little ‘badges’ for human-made, no AI art and writing, as promised in AI is a Tick Upon the Body of the Earth. I haven’t had the time or energy yet to put them through a proper monochrome edit but I realised if I just upload them here as photos you can already use them, should you so wish.
These are just the first freehand doodles, but I like them. There’ll be more over time, as and when the spirit moves me. The evening I did these, I had finished packing for York and couldn’t get past a page of reading, so I picked up my old fountain pen and started drawing. An hour later these wonky but fun images were complete.
I used pencil, paper, pen, brush and some walnut husk ink that was in a shell by my work desk from the cover shoot for my next book Drawn From the Wild. They are all about two inches across and are meant to be able to be used small on a Substack, online post or email.
If you’d like to use one, or trace one, change the size or shape of one, go ahead, better still, draw some of your own, too! You can click on any of these images and the full-size photo will show. Just take a screenshot using your phone or laptop feature and then crop it and save it. You are welcome to use any of them wherever you wish on anything you make without using AI.
Here’s a desk shot of the original biro doodles, finished (for now) drawings and all the materials I used. The perch came last. Now I want to do a whole bunch of other fish, sea creatures and crustaceans saying ‘not made with AI’. Why? It made me chuckle.
Today (Sunday) is my first day without serious pain, so I am celebrating a very peaceful day at home with my partner by uploading these for you. My writing brain cells feel like they may be willing to be rubbed together at some point this week. I look forward to sentences! In the meantime here’s another use for pens.
I send warmest wishes from York. Hope you enjoy sticking it to AI as much as I did.
This week’s good thing is the ongoing inspiration of American artist and writer Lynda Barry. What It Is is a classic of creativity: truly exciting, really practical and utterly un-pompous. Every book of hers I have read is excellent, and I plan to finally get Syllabus and Picture This over the winter. If you ever can’t get started with your writing, second guess yourself, doubt you are good enough to write, or that what you have to say is not ‘writerly’ enough, then then this beautiful book is for you. Picture This does the same for drawing. I return to this book often, and spend an hour browsing and nodding before feeling rejuvenated. Barry still teaches, lucky students!
I hear you, and I am sure there is much fun to be had by people with AI. However, I am more interested on how it affects society as a whole over time and who loses out. I know lots of artists and musicians whose work was used as learning fodder for the AIs and they are routinely ripped off, plagiarised and lose work because of them. Superb artists I know of are involved in class lawsuits against the companies in USA who syphoned their images into their AIs and now churn out things in their style, but had denied doing so. Documents revealed they did know what they were doing and fully infringed copyright and intellectual property laws. Interesting times.
Fun is nice. Creativity is a creaturely affair. Each to their own.
I thought the same about AI until this summer... I was at a taiji retreat and met an awesome, fearless and inspiring young Iranian woman. She arrived in a whirl of wildly hand-painted luggage and clothing, then sat down and drew in a sketchbook, straight into ink, free, loose, confident, while enjoying Sam’s guitar improv. We introduced each other to new aspects of exploring nature, taiji, qigong, spirit, art, cultural misunderstandings and judgments and much more. Turned out she is also a science professor, pilot, specialist in epidemiology, and fascinated by creative aspects of AI…
Oh, I stopped in my tracks, really?
Then she showed me all kinds of AI experiments she’d done with paintings and suggestions and words and photographs and wild silliness. She had been having the same fun with AI as she had with painting her suitcase or surprising new friends, rolling an aircraft or taking risks with finding her way around repressive authority.
Here was someone really alive, creative and fearless, in ways that took me delightfully by surprise.
Her AI adventures were just another reflection of her being, very natural for her to play with and experiment. They had a real individuality. Playful, striking, hilarious, challenging and very different from my expectations. ‘Just go play’ she said, sending me a link.