Category: thoughts behind the work

daily paintings, Illustrations, patterns, thoughts behind the work, watercolor, whimsy

Paisley Dress Watercolor

Michele B. Naquaiya

When I started with this image, I had a completely different thing in mind. I wanted to combine 2 or more images together to create something I would be surprised and awed by. When you start to fine tune your ideas in AI, it can easily go many wild ways. That doesn’t mean it’s bad…just different. That’s why this is fun. Here are three images that I put together in a surprising way.
Here’s the first watercolor that I painted from a live model at Clark College in Washington at their evening life drawing sessions–back in 2007. The 1st is the original and the 2nd is one that I just played with some color filtering.

original painting

I added these color tones in photo edit

Here is a watercolor illustration/doodle on watercolor paper I was hoping I could somehow blend into the art, done in watercolor markers.

I asked AI to combine several combinations of the idea of this woman and the illustrated watercolor sketch. Here are the goofy things that happened.
1 They told me I could not have a nude
2 I said, ok but can you come up with the same or similar pose of the woman?
3 They said sure thing, so I chose the girl in the garden among a bunch of images offered.
4 Next I asked if they could put the illustration design on her dress. So I made up a name and called it the “paisley design”.
5 After around half a dozen color changes and getting the pattern to fit her body, I accepted the top design with a few tweeks. I ended up getting the Paisley Dress Watercolor, final product.

This just goes to show you can’t always get what you want….but if you try sometime…
you get what you need👌😂

As always, fun unhurtful comments are accepted. Tell me if you’ve had any similar experiences.

AI Art, AI art, animals, fantasy illustration, flora and fauna, humor, thoughts behind the work

How to love a Moose

Michele B. Naquaiya

As I explore lots of learning challenges in AI, I’m leaning on some of my favorite animals. Today I play with a moose. I’ve never seen a moose in person– in the wild. If you remember the series “Northern Exposure”, I loved the opening where they used quirky music and the big moose walking around downtown Cicely, Alaska. It still makes me smile and the moose always stuck in my head.
Here are three elements of me playing with a moose, to create 2 completely different versions.

This is the first prompt with soft watercolor

I thought this guy was great but wanted to try another version using the same elements but adding a layer of white, to create an intricate texture and a completely different look.

This is the 2nd prompt with additional white
This is the last element of a whimsical, nonsensical watercolor doodle in the background

If you look closely, there is an odd set of legs at the bottom of the first two. You might not ever guess they came from this little guy who is a 3rd watercolor, blended into the first 2 images. He’s not a moose at all but I included him in the mix because of the color palette and whimsical nature as a surprise element. So that’s the story of my evolving learning experience today. It’s about having fun with art and whimsical images. I think of it like cooking. The last element is the unidentiful spice that makes the dish amazing.

AI art, people, thoughts behind the work

More Experiments with text to image

Michele B. Naquaiya

When I look at women who are created in AI, so much of what I see is women who are 20 years old, picture perfect, either looking pretty plastic or they are all superwoman. I’m trying to see if I can create something a little different by trying a variety of verbal prompts to be more image specific and gear them to what people really look like, rather than having that “artificial quality” that I’m kind of sick of seeing. I am aware that models begin as photos of real people. That’s a given and there is a limited amound of changes one can make. People come in all shapes and ages and the models used often represent a kind of t.v. 1980s look. I’m not trying to create a super realistic look like a photo, but something that’s a combination of drawing, painting, illustration and storytelling without super hot colors and outrageous fantasy effects. Here is a little journey I did this morning exploring stages I went through. I used Leonardo AI and created the image with a simple prompt, using different styles, sizes and filters along the way. Basically the prompt I created was this. A woman architect of ….x age, with …..x colored hair, working in her office. She is professional and hard working, her clothes are faded blue denim, she wears glasses and the wall shows a mock up of one of her buildings.

I’m patching these in no preference, just as examples. I’m learning that I can make a woman look less plastic with using my own ideas in the word prompt. It’s a challenge and I have several other platforms I use and will experiment more with. It’s a time sink for sure and requires patience. Any likes and comments are appreciated. My idea in this project is that AI shouldn’t be hated and feared by artists. The more we learn, the more we grow.

abstract imagination, thoughts behind the work

Wild maxi-color abstract watercolor

Michele B. Naquaiya

I personally don’t like crowded and/or overworked compositions, so that is exactly what I achieved here. ha ha ha. no joke. I was going for a completely different look but things happen. I began with a gorgeous yellow and blue underpainting with tons of white paper. I drew some lines into it reinforcing some of the big shapes I saw. I experimented and applied a pretty good amount of masking fluid to the whole work, protecting the whites. Then came the first color wash. It looked very stark and cut out and pretty confusing. So I did something new and a little odd.

I softened the white areas with similar colored watercolor pencils. It took a very long time because this is not a small painting. I softened each area a piece at a time. Looking at the photo here, it’s pretty hard to tell exactly where these sections are because they are pretty much everywhere.
I loved the look but it still looked cut out so I glazed various sections with soft washes, trying to push back some areas to accentuate others. It didn’t work and the whole think kept popping up like jack-in-the-boxes everywhere. So here we are with no focal point and a big traffic jam. But there is something compelling about it. It’s a mystery of how color can take over.

I had to stop because there is only so much you can repaint a watercolor before it becomes dead and muddy and opaque. I will continue this technique on the next painting but perhaps only do one shape. I think I don’t even want to count how many are here. I keep seeing this piece as a six foot painting. Even then it would need a huge space to live in since it’s such a bully and attention grabber. I would love your feedback on this one.

Here’s a few versions on products:

alphabet, fonts, t-shirt design, thoughts behind the work

Working with Quotes WOMEN

Michele B. Naquaiya

I just ran across these lovely star brushes and wanted to practice using them. This inspirational quote is attributed to a few people but most seem to think it came from 1st lady Eleanor Roosevelt. I’m happy with that. It is certainly true.
There are so many quotes to play with, this is only one of many to come. I wanted to put a graphic in here so I did a quick line art of a woman’s face. It was hard to find a place to make her work in the composition. It’s funny how when you begin designing something with the background, the whole piece takes on a “painting” feel. This can be good and bad too because it’s just one more design element to consider. Painting elements take away from graphic elements. It seems like it should be an either or choice to make. That’s why I ended up putting here translucent face on top of text and she ends up being small.
Here’s a thought–if you look at the bottom 2/3rd of this artwork it is a square …and the words have an opposite meaning of what the quote is. It would be “women rarely make history”. Ha. Pretty funny. I think these colors work. check it out on tee public.