Melissa E

I love this and swans! You did such a beautiful job of this piece. 😍

Birds on the Brain Art show at Gualala’s Art Center.

Sculptures at art show.

“The Quail” ceramics piece on a birds nest.

“The Quail” ceramics piece on a birds nest.

I submitted a ceramics piece of a Quail at the Gualala Art Center. The nest is an actual birds nest that one of the curators found.

Some thoughts: When using GenAi as a mood board you don't get sources. This means you deprive yourself from knowledge. You generated a location? You deprived yourself of knowing more about the interesting parts of the world and why things came to be. Generate an armor or costume? You deprived yourself on real world techniques, function, form and history. You generated art inspirations? You deprive yourself of learning about artists from history or lock out living ones from potentially being hired. Ethical issues of using GenAi models aside, one ends up making visuals mood boards devoid of reality and history. With it one deprives themselves from learning about our world and who is living in it, inadvertently making your work weaker, because of how detached it is from our shared human reality and history.

Been thinking on the use of GenAi for mood boards. Ethics and legal risks aside, I truly believe using GenAi as references deprives one of many pivotal things.

Here’s a blurb on what I mean:

Friends (esp if you live in CA) we REALLY need signatures on this petition supporting Bill AB412 - the AI Copyright Transparency Act.

TLDR = this will require AI corps to be transparent about what is in their datasets!

Signing takes 1 min. Once you sign, PLEASE SHARE!! tinyurl.com/4uxbp963

Blender Development Fund Join the Development Fund and support Blender Foundation to work on core Blender development.

Blender is struggling. it's the best piece of 3d software on the market, and it's free. I'm not going back to autodesk.
please donate if you can!
fund.blender.org

Guillermo del Toro on 'Frankenstein': 'AI can go f**k itself!' "Art is not only necessary, it is urgent. And AI can go f*ck itself!” Guillermo del Toro is a guest of honour at this year’s Lumière Film Festival. He presents his adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", which audiences got to see on the big screen before it streams on Netflix next month.

Guillermo del Toro on 'Frankenstein': 'AI can go f**k itself!'

Celebrating Indigenous People's Day today.

Side-by-side images of Banksy’s mural on the Royal Courts of Justice in London. On the left, the artwork appears faded and scrubbed, leaving only a ghostly outline of a judge raising a gavel over a protester holding a placard. On the right, the mural is fully visible in sharp black and white stencil, showing a judge in a traditional white wig and robes striking down at a protester who defends himself with a bloodied sign.

They erased the new Banksy mural in London. But the stain remains.

Please keep creating, that is our only hope and defense against the tyranny we and those oppressed, face in society right now.

I am also feeling this exact same way. Really depressed 😔 and hopeless. But I feel Art has always been the spear that pierces the immoral in this world.

Join to be appreciated as a scientist on Bluesky. It’s a wonderful community that cares more about science and conservation than being complicit in the destruction of our planet.

“Didn’t these AI chuds think about use permission???”
I think they did. I think they were like:

Obama is the best of ‘em!

NO KINGS 🇺🇸

"I want people to be safe and protected. I want to live on the right side of history. I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship and I was privileged enough to grow up in the United States after asylum in Denmark. I stand by those protections, always."

Carl Sagan on how humanity can create its purpose and make its existence meaningful.

☀️We’re launching Sun Day: a day of action on September 21st 2025 to show the massive support for a clean energy future and not give in to the wealthy and well-connected who want it shut down. ⏯️ Here’s your reason for hope:

Orange California poppy.

Coast.

Sun behind trees.

A Cecropia moth.

Everyday is EARTH day!

Live: Speaking on Trump, Musk, and America’s Moral Moment on the Senate Floor | Senator Cory Booker YouTube video by Senator Cory Booker

I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis. Watch here:

AOC: I want to live in an America that guarantees healthcare to every person.

I want to live in an America that has a living wage for every person

I want to live in an America where you have free speech to express yourself and not be afraid of being put on a list or deported.

Rocks and pink sky.

Joshua tree.

Cactus information.

Cactus.

Joshua Tree and it’s beauty, keep them safe. #NationalParks

YouTube video by Senator Chris Murphy Murphy: Six Weeks In, This White House Is On Its Way To Being The Most Corrupt In U.S. History

Senator Chris Murphy took to the Senate floor on Friday to break down the corruption flowing from the WH. He connects the dots, and makes a clear argument regarding who what where and why Shitler and Muskrat are destroying our govt!! This needs to be shared far and wide!!

youtu.be/hycoCYenXls

Pass it on.
#StandWithUkraine

And I am an ally. If you are too, let the world know.

The aurora right above me

Thank you Liya! 💖💖💖

Donate to Help Melissa Preserve her Wildlife Sanctuary Home, organized by Melissa Encinas Hello! My name is Melissa. I am an artist just scraping by, I am hop… Melissa Encinas needs your support for Help Melissa Preserve her Wildlife Sanctuary Home

Hi, everyone I have a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help save my sanctuary. If you can, please consider supporting by donating or sharing the link. Every bit of support makes a huge difference. Thank you 🙏 so very much!

gofund.me/bb90de9a

Yellow and orange daffodils.

Yellow and white daffodils.

Yellow daffodil.

Some beautiful daffodils that have incredible colors and smell delicious. 🤤

Just for your FYI:

I'm still celebrating Black History Month.

It's still The Gulf Of Mexico

I am canceling President's Day until we get a better one.

Updated meal locations for 2/4/25: WCK will have free meals available in California for first responders and community members impacted by the Southern California wildfires at the locations listed here: https://wck.org/ca-meals. Share with anyone in the area in need of support. #ChefsForCalifornia