"Stippling" is the latest in the alcohol ink drip playing "common art" series as a stress relief during the pandemic. This slideshow "sketchbook" is the first to use some of the AI "style transfer" and "landscape mixer" capabilities of the neural filters in Photoshop.

1. Stippling
A beginner’s play in alcohol inks,
alcohol markers, fine liners, colored
pencils, ballpoint pens, and whatnot,
synthetic papers,
light compositing,
neural filtering play with art styles,
and digital image editing…
Shalin Hai-Jew
Feb. 2022

2. 2
Thriving in Hard Soil 2

3. 3
Dormant Nest

4. 4
Starry Starry

5. 5
Uncoil
(triptych)

6. 6
Grief

7. 7
Thick Soup

8. 8
Doubles

9. 9
Roadside Tree

10. Stippling
• “Stippling” is the latest in the alcohol ink drip playing series, which
was started in January 2021, as a way to provide stress relief during
the pandemic.
• In the metadata, I note that these are works of “common art.” I ran
across lyrics that evoke something of “common art” to me from La
Bohéme (written by Jacques Plante and Charles Aznavour about the
bohemian Montmartre). The lines in English translation read:
All those innocent hearts who
imagined their arts
could be casually mastered
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11. Stippling(cont.)
• Some of the works in this collection do not actually include alcohol
ink paintings or alcohol ink in any sense. A few in the “born-digital
variants” section at the end are from original photos and various
applied digital effects.
• It is such a stress relief to run around taking photos of lovely trees. While
stock photos can be efficiently harnessed, there are times to go with custom
works.
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12. Stippling(cont.)
• Another novel approach: These works here include some that use neural
filters (based on AI) as a waypoint or as a final fill.
• The “fill” from the AI works with the seeding image as a kind of mash-up.
• There are parameters (on sliders) that may be adjusted for different effects.
• I am learning that lines and shapes matter. Human vision gravitates towards form.
There is such a push to sensemaking in the human vision and vision processing
system that the brain sometimes perceives non-existent images where none exist.
• Multiple chromas work better than monochrome for the seeding image.
• Here, too, it is better to experiment broadly and to think of the neural
filters as a waypoint in a sequence, not the end state necessarily. The
balance here is to avoid going overboard.
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13. Stippling(cont.)
• I am still very much trying to create opportunities for serendipity, to
invite and welcome it.
• A case in point this morning: I picked up a bottle of an ink that I thought was
one color, but when I looked closer, it was another. Should I go with what I
had in hand, or should I go with what I’d initially planned?
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14. On white synth paper
14

15. 15
Spring Showers

16. 16
Rust and Blood

17. 17
Shifting Sands

18. 18
Break in Clouds

19. 19
Mouse

20. 20
Cutting Wind 1

21. On digital variants
21

22. 22
Dryscape

23. 23
Bloody Sky

24. 24
Simple Loves

25. 25
Fig Leaf

26. 26
Maple and Elm

27. 27
Cutting Wind 2

28. 28
Remote Moon

29. 29
Gravity

30. 30
Break in Clouds 2
(with neural filter art style transfer)

31. 31
Tree and Ancient Sun

32. 32
Blue Dispersion

33. 33
Misgivings

34. 34
Fungi

35. 35
Pine

36. 36
Mudflats

37. 37
Rockscape at Night

38. 38
Spoils

39. 39
Wishes

40. 40
Underground Coils

41. 41
Thriving in Hard Soil 1

42. 42
Contemplation

43. 43
Dreams of Water

44. 44
Conflagrations

45. 45
Stirring

46. On born-digital variants
46

47. 47
Roadside Barn

48. 48
Cultivated

49. 49
Beach Detritus

50. 50
Stalk

51. 51
Barn in Spring

52. 52
Rock at Tuttle Creek