I consider this to be my first piece in what I was to call my Singularity Series

The full image:

I had a great question on my last post just really asking about the Singularity and what I meant by it. As is often the case with Steemit, as you beging typing an answer or comment in the comments section you realize, "This should be a post as well". And so here I am.

For those of you who don't know, I am currently working on a series of digital paintings I am calling my "Singularity Series"

This series will also include real life oil on canvas, but I tend to not do that as much until Summer when my Summer studio is warm and habitable.

This series really began, I feel, with the inspiration of Steemit itself. Early on in Steemit I found that entering as many art contests as I could was a great way to get to feel out the art community here and to meet other wonderful artists on the platform, which indeed I did do.

This piece was inspired by the wonderful Steemit contests #artexplosion hosted by the even more wonderful @juliakponsford and judged by the amazing musician @vachemorte. Each week they choose a theme and leave it up to we artists to decide how to intrepret it. I believe the week was #27 and the then prompt was Technology. This was back in February of this year.

When I contemplated Technology in the context of what I like to paint I somehow came to this idea of a hybrid human contemplating her existence.

The butterfly theme was early on, as it often is an allegory for the human spirit or psyche. Little did I know that making this piece would open up an entire story line in my brain.

I has also done a sketch of such a character in watercolour and ink (digital and real life) when I was considering this painting and as is often the case with me, I sketch and do studies quite a bit before starting a larger piece. This was a random sketch in that vein about that time.

It was really just starting to be an idea at this point.

Then flash forward to March here in coastal New England when we had a few weeks of horrible late Winter. We lost our power on quite a few occasions and were left with no heat and no power and I was looking at my view on the Wintery day and considering how much I'd love to be part machine, to power myself and feel no cold. That was when this sketch was born of this figure standing out in my view at the time.

She stood strong against the cold North winds and needed only the slightest drapery of clothing to suit her needs.

This evolved into her wearing more elaborate clothes, as I am obsessed with vintage fashion. But that came later, as the next few days I did this study of a bot like Singularity hybrid creature caught in a snow landscape in her mid Victorian gown, doing what I could not: stand happily in the midst of all the snow.

This was when I began to realize, in this fantasy of half-bot self powered creature, I could wear whatever was my desire and vintage fashion would be the theme that next became a staple in my ideas of this imagined world and the idea of animals and the butterfly as well. I revisited my original sketch and added butterflies.

Having considered fashion more now came my love of animals. Now she had a dog companion (that ever faithful human companion) attempting to jog the memory of his master to the realization of her humanity, thus the imagery of butterflies escaping from her skirt.

The human soul attempting to be realized.

Now enter another contest, I forget which now, and these creatures were uppermost in my mind. So, I did a play on Klimts version of Danae in my new Singularity view. Now, really, these creatures were taking hold of my psyche.

That was followed by a sketch and watercolour (which is currently in the works for a larger oil piece) where the animal and vintage fashion were permanent fixtures.

Then this lovely lady appeared in my life in my sketchbook of a morning.

Actually I had toyed with her before and was considering the story of Pandora and her opening of the forbidden box. In my world such a Pandora would find an old laptop from the 'human times' and being a powering unit herself would power it on and thus open a world of virus and dark history of the humans who had come before them.

This was the main piece of which I have been working on and sharing the various layer; i is close to completion. However, before I placed her indoors, I had toyed with my other sketch adding a house in the background.

Now, I had entered the world full on.

The house is there my creatures can live inside buildings and the world is beginning to grow. I have shared my two latest sections of my Singularity Pandora before, but here they are again in the context of this discussion.

And the development of her red sofa, dog companion and the unexpected arrival of another bot like machine (Which I credit influences from @reinhard-schmid whose work I love)

I am now full inside this world.

I have every intention of making a large series of works exploring this 'place' which in many ways is a very real place to me. I am really enjoying the ride. And I really have to thank Steemit and the wonderful group of artists who frequent this space and are great at chatting and sharing ideas. Steemit has allowed me to look at my work in a new way and to find the love of just painting and creating for it's own sake once again! For me, being an artist is expressing this love of story and following the need and passion to express my imaginings in pictoral form on screen, canvas, paper, what have you. I'd love to one day take this series into VR painting, for what better world to view this imagined future than in our current technology?

I am even addressing older pieces I had started in the past and have begun moving them into this world, case in point this older unfinished piece of a child and dogs.

Which has now become this Singularity child sketch which will either be it's own painting or in a painting with an adult.

Now, long story short (too late for that) What I mean by the "Singularity":

Personally, I like that the word has a few meanings one of which is

the state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual
And also:
point where a measured variable reaches unmeasurable or infinite value

That has a lovely ring to it in and of itself. Unusual, peculiar, a point of infinite value? I love all that terminology.

Of course, the main meaning for my use of the word is the "Technological Singularity".

The genius John von Neumann stated:

"the ever accelerating progress of technology ... gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue."

The term "Technological Singularity" was coined by the SF writer Vernor Vinge who wrote this great essay in the 1990s which you can read here.

Thus for me, in this world of my concept of the Singularity, I mean a place in the future post traditional humans.

That a time came when technology converged with advanced AI and Robotic enhancements and replacements that created a moment when the computer intelligence quickly surpassed humans and finding no need for them any longer, they died out; yet what is left are these hybrid creatures neither human nor machine.

In my imagined place they have a sort of awakening (Possibly the work of Pandora?) in which this odd remembrance of a human past haunts them, but just lies out of the grasp of their comprehension. The animal companions of dog and cat still see their old friend 'the human' in them and thus are always on the edge of this world giving them their sense of humanity.

The joy of the elaborate vintage fashions are inspired by the past eras when the very wealthy could be restricted in layers upon layers of clothing because they had a sea of servants to do for them. This just seems fitting in world where the upper classes would have embraced AI parts and aided intelligence as readily as they would face lifts and other longevity cure all. And I am also enamoured of vintage fashion and love the history of art particularly from these time periods of Rocco co to early 20th century.

And that is what is meant by my version of the Singularity and what I aim to create though a series of paintings and works.

I think I will end this post with these 2 videos by Ray Kurzweil who is always tied with the Singularity. It is his concept of the Singularity that is a starting point for my idea of this future place.

I hope you all have a lovely day and as you look at your screen, use your mobile and ask Alexa what the weather is or what the definition of a word might be, consider when these things will be part of you. Shall we remain as we are or will technology grow weary of our feeble ways? Fun to consider.

If you like my work please upvote and feel free to resteem and by all means leave comments.

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Check out my other posts:

• A peek at my WIP of latest Singularity Painting
• A singularity sketch inspired by my trip to a garden
• A #sublimesunday at a plant sale and walk to my summer studio
• Dada.nyc drawing, back at it
• Another layer in my Singularity painting: Pandora

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