ANTILOG_31Dec14a

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ANTILOG_31Dec14a

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07:43 2014-12-31

* I've made several new attempts at creating a visual art ("design") that could eventually be done entirely by computer, in an automated manner.
* I'm also looking closely at my documentation methods, trying to improve my record-keeping in general. The goal of that is to have a body of work of documented methods, processes, techniques, methodologies, etc.
* The goal in that is to make my work "reproducible". Since my work is mostly "experimental", I want others to be able to reproduce the "experiments".

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16:50 2014-12-31

* So I made several other ventures into the realm of Generative Art / Procedural Generation. I'm not sure where I'm going with this right now, but I know it is amazing work that I am doing. Let me lead you directly to my latest entry into the Laboratory Notebook:

ANTILOG_30Dec14a

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ANTILOG_30Dec14a

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00:48 2014-12-30

* I am still experimenting with images. I am making digital images; I am "generating" them I should say. I am generating digital images starting from the initial conditions of "pure Gaussian white noise", more or less.
* I'm trying to be thorough, methodical, and systematic about it, but for now I'm unable to do the operations I want to do solely through direct numerical computation. I have to use an image editing software, and that upsets me. What I need to be doing is writing Python programs to do the same basic operations. In due time.
* This is what I've got for now:

* The experiment is simple: I'm trying to go for the "most complex beauty". That is, by utilizing simple rules and only simple rules, I am experimenting with the (computational) generative emergence of complex beauty. I'm not sure I said that right. Let me begin again.

* The idea right now is to use the SIMPLEST RULES, and only the simplest imaginable, to GENERATE images. I want those images to a) be BEAUTIFUL and b) I would like there to be at least "some" complexity.

* The idea is not to produce Low-Complexity Art. I want there to be entropy and complexity and NOISE basically. That's the thing. This isn't about Compression. This is about maximizing the user experience, and I think I need a high-enough level of complexity to achieve that.

* Another example:

* I am ONLY using primitive (basic) operations. I generate noise, I pointillize, and I pixelize. That's about it. And I play with colors. I'm not doing anything I couldn't do through numerical computation alone. At least ideally, that's the goal.

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07:55 2014-12-30

* I made some more images. For now, though, I want to recollect the research I was doing recently on Derivatives.

* Basically, what I came to understand is that a derivative is more or less just a rate of change. When I say something is "the first derivative of x with respect to time" I'm making a statement about the rate of change of a variable with respect to time.

* I am basically just saying something about a changing quantity.

* You have an input value and an output value. It is saying there is a functional relation between the two.

* Math and science are basically just The Study of Change. (Signals are also changes in quantities.)

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08:30 2014-12-30

* I'm still obsessed with this record-keeping/documentation thing. Look at it this way. I've been doing a lot of experimenting with image processing. I've been exploring and experimenting with Python for 3 or 4 years now. I'm also playing with some simple software to manipulate images.

* What I want is to document the process. No experiment should ever go without records written down in the laboratory notebook.

* On the subject of notebooks, I've been having trouble installing the IPython Notebook on my Windows computer. It's okay because it will work on the Linux machine, but it reminded me how difficult things are on the Windows platform. It's always configurating this, configurating that. It never ends. Stuff only half-works part of the time.

* With that being said, I'm likely to end up reinventing the wheel since none of the computational resources that I would need exist. I'll have to write my own libraries/modules. That's okay.

* With the digital images, though, I'm following a very precise step-by-step procedure, an "algorithm" except that for now I'm doing it all by hand.

* I keep trying to use only the most basic functions that I know I will be able to perform through numerical computation. I've already done the math, I just need to translate it into Python code.

* Funny enough, the Processing platform (Processing.org) has a new Python Mode. I tried to install that on the Windows machine and she was a no-show. Error somewhere in installation.

* As always, run into a problem, have no one to turn to for guidance. Back to square one.

* I made this a short while ago. As you may know, I've been working on The Refcards-System now for years. I made a little Refcard to go in the collection:

* Note: It's winter in my heart of hearts.

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10:46 2014-12-30

* ANOTHER REFCARD FOR THE REFCARD-SYSTEM:

ANTILOG_29Dec14a

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ANTILOG_29Dec14a

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22:09 2014-12-29

* Have been working hard on multiple aspects of my "Magnum Opus" for the last several months.
* Am trying out new techniques in visual design. Am also studying visual culture, material culture as thoroughly as I can.
* My documentation methods have been lacking. I have tried to be as meticulous and systematic as possible in my documentation practises over the years and yet find that I'm still not thorough enough.
* For instance, experiments in visual arts done in the Atelier need to be inscribed in the appropriate Laboratory Notebook. I have the notebooks, I just haven't been keeping proper records.
* I need to continue what essentially has become a Longitudinal Study of myself as a self-portraitist, as well as just a professional painter proper.
* This is important so that I can keep track of my "Growth Landmarks" I am calling them. You know in your life, in the enterprise that you practise, you have "growth spurts". These need to be documented. It's part of the general "Archive-Your-Life" attitude and methodology.
* I did this earlier today:

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22:33 2014-12-29

* Over the last month or two, I have been doing experiments in painting. First of all, I spent the last several months, almost a half-year, "Reinventing Myself". That took some time and for most of that period, I wasn't the most prolific artist in the world.
* I still did some work, but not as much as I usually do. So now a month or so ago, I began producing again at full volume, and that's partly why I realize now how important documentation is.
* For instance, I have been looking at "textures" in painting. I made a few paintings recently on this subject of Textures. Here, have a look at one of them:

* The idea is to paint a surface, a canvas in this case, with a treatment that makes it look like it could be an old wall with flaking paint.
* The concept is that this is something we see in everyday life, concrete walls or things of the sort that are "aged" or "used", i.e. have fallen victim to "wear & tear".
* Now, it is my contention that what we call "Patina" in the arts, is precisely this "wear & tear", that is, the visible "effects" of it.
* My idea was to paint what looked like "Old Surfaces", whatever that means.

* Here is a digital example of something I made last August, 2014.

* Here we can see the "Texture" of which I speak, the "Texture of Old Surfaces".

* It looks like it might be an old piece of cloth or something.

* The general idea in this series of experiments is to try to UNDERSTAND HISTORY. I want to grasp WHAT HISTORY IS, what it is that makes things look old, what it means to be old & withered and tearing at the seams. I want to study HOW PATINA WORKS and how it GIVES VALUES TO THINGS.

* As they say, All solid things turn to air. I just want to understand the underlying processes involved.