Occasionally, I’ve used Dall-e to generate images when I’m feeling uninspired or to use as reference. I believe it’s similar to artists using other artists’ artwork as references. They use it to paint or draw as practice, not to make art that’s for sale. I would say I’m not as imaginative as Dall-e, but sometimes the art generated can be considered creepy as well.

AI Art Stickers Dall-e's Bees and Beehive Amongst Lavender Flowers

Above are some art that I generated. I thought some of them might make interesting stickers to use in my sketchbook, so I printed them on sticker paper and cut them out for my own use. I also painted the scene with bees, beehive and lavender flowers using oil pastels on canvas board.

Until then, I hadn’t used my oil pastels very often, and I wanted to see what they would be like to use on canvas board.

I used the harder pastels first: the Cray-pas Expressionist. Afterwards I could layer the softer Mungyo Gallery and Caran d’Ache Neopastels on top.

Finished artwork! By no means perfect since I’m not used to oil pastels, but this was an interesting trial. The fluorescent purple base colour can still be seen poking through, giving it a pinkish and cool undertone. My mother asked me about this painting when she visited me, probably thinking it looks weird. It is probably very weird and not something I would imagine or create by myself. 😂

Inspired by my friend Juanita and her recent blog post, I decided to play, too!

Early 2010, I wanted to:

  • Get a job
  • Continue German class

End of 2010, I have done neither!! I didn’t like learning German in Switzerland, maybe because of the lousy school I attended for one session. The other expensive school was always intimidating. They boasted to mainly have university graduates and bilinguals as students. They made me take a placement test. Their class “entry points” were few and far between. I would plan to start the class, but never did once the time came. As for jobs, we all know that it’s almost impossible to get employment overseas without having the right visa. I was also under-qualified, as everyone else had Masters degrees. I also don’t enjoy doing something I’m not interested in.

Plans for December 2010 and early 2011:

  • Become a full time, self-proclaimed artisan
  • Register my jewellery home business
  • Continue once-a-week German class at the Goethe Institute, at my own leisure (there’s no rush any more, is there?)
  • Take a simple silver smithing short course in December at Monash
  • Take more detailed metal smithing courses at NMIT in February
  • Sell at Rose St. Artists Market, Fitzroy
  • Earn money

We’ll see how many goals I fulfil.

This sure is a week of features and promotions!

A big hearty thank you to Andrew Weaver of Plug Market for writing an article on me and my polymer clay miniatures, entitled “Artist Review: How a formal education enhances your craftsmanship”. Andrew is a professional marketing consultant who is writing about artisans to help promote their products, as well as provide valuable advice on how to effectively market handmade products online. Definitely has a space on my bookmarks list! I already found a few tips that I just have to try.