Early bird sale and the despair of Artificial Intelligence

Etsy is having a Black Friday Sale where you will save 25%, but it only starts November 24th. So I thought I’d offer an Early Bird sale. Same 25% savings but offered early to bridge the gap. Why wait? Use PROMO CODE: EARLYBIRD25ER or click this link. It truly is the only big sale of the year. Feel free to buy holiday gifts and/or renew any subscriptions early to take advantage of the sale. I’ll just tack the new one onto the end of the current subscription. Ends November 23rd.

Early bird. A kind of sale that rewards morning people.

I received a note from a letter subscriber. She lost both a spouse and a pet in the same month. She said the letters have lifted her spirits. Here is the November letter… and art print:

She got me thinking about the importance of treats.

We are waltzing each other around this planet… swinging around in tragedy and cable knits, on sunny days and howling nights. Companions on the journey. Strangers together.

Every day is happy-sad-happy-sad and we are never sure what we are going to get. When will tragedy strike? So these letters of mine, according to lovely readers, have become a moment of light on those days when life is more crummy than delightful. A nice treat.

We are all sitting in a quiet grief.

It could be just the world we are living in, a specific circumstance, or just a broody moody November provoking a broody moody disposition. November kind of gives us permission to pull back within and sit quietly with ourselves.

Giving a Cottage Letters subscription this holiday season is like gifting someone a cheerful hello. A quiet bit of company that arrives in the mailbox. It doesn’t expect any energy in return or response of any kind. In a world full of noise, it’s a quiet way to give someone the feeling of being thought of again and again. And all without having the task of writing the letter or the guilt of not writing at all.

So a letter subscription is just the ticket. And saving 25% is even better.

In other news…

I’ve been chewing on this quote from Darby Hudson:

He goes on to write:

“Some things you make keep growing. Most don’t. A day of work you dragged yourself through years ago – dead the moment you clocked out. That day is now vanished money from your bank account. But a poem you wrote half-alive after work with what little you had left still burns, catching fire, lighting up the heart of the night decades later. And when you’re gone, someone will find it on a page… and for a moment, they’ll close the book and open the sky.”

This has been giving me hope in this despairing artificial intelligence world.

Remember when artificial sugar came out. We thought ourselves SAVED. Saved from all the bad things about sugar. We were going to be so skinny! Of course, we soon realized that the fake stuff isn’t the same at all. With artificial intelligence, I get so BUMMED OUT. It is taking away all the fun jobs along with the arduous jobs it promises to relieve us from. It is a hell of a painter, a hell of a writer, a hell of a faker.

I’ve been painting a lot lately knowing AI can probably do it better. But there is a hope that it will relieve me of the burning desires to follow through on a vision. Projects BURN inside me. BURN. A haunting that can only be exorcized by doing.

Lemons are a crowd fave. Still have stems to do on this one.

Oranges on a hot pink background. Still have a few blossoms to finish.

More oranges, this time floating in a sinister sky that may end up entirely blue… or not. Still mulling.

I could have whipped these up with AI.

BUT WHAT IS THE FUN IN THAT?!?!!

It was a relief to paint. The brush is welcome pal, dipping in paint, swirling on the page, seeing what comes of it.

AI might be here to stay. It might be convenient and useful and helpful. But I hope its presence starts a revolt in our souls where we buy from artists, make real art, and insist on tactile screen-free fun. Let’s hope.

Janice

PS If you are still here, quick reminder that the Early Bird sale is happening over at Etsy for the letter subscriptions. Save 25%. Use PROMO CODE: EARLYBIRD25ER or click this link.