AI-DXB

(somehow I forgot to post this one. From mid-December 2024)

I remain highly sceptical about the value of AI generated images. But there is no point in taking the ostrich stance. My most fundamental reservation is that the process of drawing or painting has always been more important to me than the project.

Even when drawing on a digital screen with a stylus, there is a rich embodied journey that brings its own fulfillment and stimulates a whole cascade of ideas. With a physical canvas and paints this is even more so.

 

Microsoft Office on my phone keeps updating itself, as do so many tools. It can be confusing. Last week I was struggling to find my recent Word documents. Maybe it's me. I will adapt soon enough of course, but it's also good to get lost from time to time. You blunder into things you have been ignoring.

So I asked for a woodcut style Victorian Street scene. I could imagine putting one of these into a slide deck if I was still doing stand-up BIM talks. Then I adapted one of the sample monogram to use my initials. Not quite usable but food for thought perhaps.

Never say never? 🤔

 

Pictures from my first year in Dubai. Overnight camping in the desert, followed by dawn walks and getting out soon after breakfast to escape the harsh sun. Such a long time since I did anything like that.

Cricket played on a concrete pitch in an area that has changed beyond all recognition now. My two sons played in that match, passing through Dubai on their university journeys. I was just an observer but those were good memories.

 

Fast forward to last week, standing out front of my building. Looking up the road at the sunrise and down the way at Burj Khalifa, glinting in the low angle sunbeams. 20 years gone in a flash. Life keeps speeding up on me and all the while my body is slowing down.

All I can do is give thanks for my incredible good fortune and take each moment as it comes.