In this issue: Details (and a discount) on my studio sale, thoughts on AI + art, a DC-area artist I love, and a sneak peek at a new series I’m developing. If you missed the first installment, you can find it here.

Studio notes

My studio sale is live

I’m moving studios this week and am clearing out a lot of my older paintings and studies. As a subscriber, you get first dibs — I won’t be sharing the sale on social platforms until later this week. These pieces range from quick sketches to finished portraits and master copies. It’s been fun to look back at my learning process and experimentation over the years. I hope some of the work resonates with you, too.

Use the code PRACTICE10 for 10% off your purchase. And if you run into any issues with shipping (or it says I don’t ship to your country), just respond to this email and we can figure something out. Browse the sale here: https://kaeti.studio/store

Inartful

The effort is not empty

I had a conversation about AI with another painter recently, specifically about how an artist might use it in their process. Their point was that it’s just a tool like any other and as long as you’re using it to execute your vision, what’s the problem? (I’m paraphrasing.) They weren’t advocating for AI prompt “art,” just figuring out ways it could be helpful as part of an artist’s practice, to make certain menial tasks easier, to create more time for actual, well, creating.

In THEORY, I agree that it could be used as a tool for, e.g., changing the light effect on a bad reference photo from a client or batch editing and uploading a catalogue of images. But in REALITY, we live in a world where these image generators (and LLMs in general) function only because of stolen art, have massive negative impacts on the environment and our brains, and use our inputted data in obfuscatory if not downright nefarious ways. I dunno man, it just all feels bad to me!

Their point was that artists have always used tools, mechanical and digital, to make parts of the creative process smoother. And of course that’s true, and of course as artists we are always looking at reference material and learning from the work of other artists. But that is not what is happening when we interact with chatbots and image generators. We are outsourcing crucial decision making, and what we get back is uncanny, watered-down pablum.

Part of our work as artists is close observation, engaging in the gore and mess and tedium that others might rather avoid or ignore. Removing ourselves from the process feels antithetical. Isn’t that process the whole point? The friction and effort we feel when bringing anything to life, that’s when we are most present in our work. In using AI, we seem to want to skip the messy and frustrating middle, but we do so at a cost. We can’t unearth anything interesting without digging.

For me, for now, I will choose less ease and more humanity, in all its effort and uncertainty.

Looking at

The confronting work of Sarah Emily Balough

This piece by Sarah Emily Balough was part of a show I co-curated at Willow Street Gallery recently, and I fell in love with her fierce and striking vision. Collage is a popular medium and can be hard to do in a distinctive way, but Sarah’s work feels sui generis. Embodied and visceral, while maintaining a strong sense of style and shape design. This piece is also one of my favorites.

On the Easel

Starting something new

I’ve been starting to sketch out, in paint and pencil, a new narrative series. Here’s the start of one of the pieces.

Over at Fox & Sable, the side of my business where I do animal portrait commissions, I’m gearing up for the holidays. If you are interested in commissioning a portrait as a holiday gift, now is the time to get on my schedule! Newsletter subscribers get $25 off any portrait, just mention A Practice Observed in your form submission.

Thanks for reading — your support means a lot, whether you’re a fellow artist, collector or just following along.