Thursday 31 August 2023

August Summary 2023

August 2023 was a big month for both PRINTMAKING and AI ART.


PRINTMAKING

The new classic photo of the Albuquerque printmakers:



Southwest Print Fiesta Print Exchange 2023

I combined both printmaking and AI Art by laser engraving an image I generated with Leonardo.AI, and printing an edition of it, for the Southwest Print Fiesta Print Exchange 2023:




When one scans his smart phone over my print, a 3D AR tapir materializes in space (on the phone), without downloading an app.  However this AR (Augmented Reality) is a huge nosebleed to actually use:





PRINTERS PLANET Festival

We participated in the PRINTERS PLANET Festival in Santa Fe on August 13, 2023:







We met both Rex Culp and Caryn Crimmel at the PRINTERS PLANET vendor market, and later Henry Morales pulled new perfect prints for them in his studio in Albuquerque:



I delivered those prints to the artists in Santa Fe during a drawing session at Argos Studio/Gallery on August 29th, 2023, where I also put up a pop-up print show:




The portable Laserpecker 2 quickly and safely cut EVA foam, which we then used to print on the Tortilla Press:


The initial idea was to laser-cut and print live in Santa Fe for the PRINTERS PLANET -- however we decided against that as there was a chance that the laser cutter would tip over and injure someone.


Julianna Kirwin wheat pasted this print outside on the wall of her studio in Albuquerque:



AI ART

AI ART (Artificial Intelligence Art) has really escalated recently, and I got access to the powerful new programs starting last August 2022, a whole year ago.  I tried to come to grip with all this progress by making a blog post:


We started at the beginning of the month when Grant lent his computer with a powerful RTX graphics card to Quelab on August 2nd.  A week later it was running Stable Diffusion, after Adam installed and tweaked Automatic 1111.


We downloaded a lot of AI models from CIVITAI, and also the AI model trained on my drawings in Open Art --  model_20221213233657.ckpt (2 GB). 
There is also a way to train AI models for use in Stable Diffusion -- LoRAs


One of my ultimate goals it to have AI "correct" or influence my figure drawing in real time, sort of like what Scott Eaton does:




Adam also applied his magic so that I could use this Quelab computer remotely, and make AI art on my laptop at home and at the coffee house, by using AnyDesk.


AI ANIMATION

I discovered PIKA LABS for making animations using AI, and used it to make animations of my Midjourney AI creations (I had early access since July 21st, but was too busy to get to it before August). I made two YouTube videos of the best results:








I took a step further and made a longer AI video in Deforum, using Stable Diffusion in Automatic 1111
on the beefy computer that Grant lent us at Quelab, based on my drawings:



Adam made a great AI video with Deforum:



2D-to-3D AI

On August 3rd, 2023 I got access to a 2D-to-3D program -- CSM (Common Sense Machines)  -- that worked in Discord:





AI QR Codes



Augmented Reality

We figured out how to deliver AR (Augmented Reality) without downloading an app, but the whole process was a huge nosebleed. 




This whole experience hinges on WASM-AR, which is the software that recognizes the image when the smart phone is hoovering over it (in landscape orientation), and places the AR image on top.  The AR image has to be hosted on a server (it can't be in Dropbox or Gdrive).


PROGRAMS

  • Kiri app-- for making 3D objects from a smart phone


Ben Harrison took this picture

August 31, 2023

Drawn live at North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque:
























PRINTS

Virgil, Cody and Ellie
receiving prints,
while Malcolm looks on


Everyone gets a John Tollett
"Javalina" coaster



Julianna Kirwin is showing lithographs at the South Broadway Cultural Center on September 14

August 29, 2023

I drew in person at the Tuesday Night drawing group of Santa Fe at the new Argos Gallery/Studio location.



























PRINTS

I took a BUCKET-o-PRINTS to show during the drawing session...half of the printmakers were from Albuquerque, the other half were from Santa Fe:




The pop-up exhibition...
(she is facing us)


I brought the same five prints from Albuquerque, which I showed at PHIL SPACE for the PRINTERS PLANET exhibition:





THE PRINTS

Albuquerque printmakers


I also showed seven works from Santa Fe printmakers:




  • Caryn Crimmel
  • Rex Culp
  • John Tollett


CARYN CRIMMEL:

Henry Morales made new prints of both Caryn Crimmel's and Rex Culp's plates, which we originally printed at the top of Canyon Road, in front of Hecho A Mano Gallery, on a TORTILLA PRESS on August 7, 2021:  

Caryn Crimmel next to her framed print
at Argos in Santa Fe




Henry Morales inking Caryn's print
in his studio in Albuquerque


We pulled at least 6 prints
from Caryn's linocut




REX CULP:

Rex Culp came to pick up his prints
during the drawing session













JOHN TOLLETT:

check out the pop-up print show


John Tollett gave us a fresh print
made by drawing on an expanded PVC foam plate
with a stylus


Another John Tollett print
touched up in Photoshop


John Tollett also drew this at the Drink-n-Draw in Santa Fe, run by Brennan Barnhill, at the Rufina Tap Room on Wednesday nights:

drew the other artists
at the Rufina Tap Room


  • Last year Paul Coker passed, on July 23, 2022.  He used to draw with us in the morning at the Argos Studio/Gallery in Santa Fe (old Luisa location).  He drew for Mad Magazine, and his passing was mentioned in the New York Times.