The Craft Stays Ours

I look carefully at the drawing I’ve just made on my watercolor paper, trying to decide where to apply my first wet brush stroke and start the entire dynamic process of painting in watercolor.

Even after years of practice, it’s still an educated guess, and part of why I love watercolor—it reminds me of the jazz I played earlier in my career where you never knew what was going to happen, but it was exciting nonetheless.

I make the guess and go for it, watching the color spread and waiting until the right moment when I add another color to create the clouds within the blue sky. Too soon, and the clouds diffuse into a mist. Too late, and they lose their soft edges.

Behind me at my desk is my computer workstation, where I have access to the most advanced technology ever created by humans. The contrast couldn’t be greater, as I hold one of the oldest analog tools in my hand, and it’s thrilling on both sides.

The strange and unexpected thing that I’ve learned using AI every day is that it’s made me appreciate the things that make us genuinely human even more, not because AI can potentially do them better, but because I value them for their own sake.

And so while I welcome AI into my studio, I’ve set boundaries it can never cross: my painting, photography, writing, and most importantly, my thinking. In this way, there’s no fear involved because I’m not competing with AI-generated art. I’m working with AI to help me achieve what I value most.

The paintbrush stays in my hand because that’s the only place I can experience what it’s like to express myself creatively, to make progress, to spend my time doing something worth doing. Having an AI create the painting for me, while interesting and amazing in its own right, doesn’t let me enjoy what being a painter entails.

None of this means retreating from AI. I believe it’s the most transformational technology we’ve ever built, and I want to help shape how creative people use it, starting with the ones who share my conviction that the craft stays ours.

Who I am, honestly

If there’s been one constant in my life, a mindset that has both given me the courage to make big career changes and push through the inevitable valley that comes after the initial excitement, it’s this: an insatiable hunger for growth and learning, combined with the persistence to follow my own path.

After a year in college as a computer science major, I left for a year or so to reflect, then decided to apply to the Berklee College of Music to pursue my true passion, music. That began an almost 20-year career as a studio musician, arranger, producer, and mix engineer.

Then over the course of a few years I transitioned to becoming a professional landscape and nature photographer, writer, and educator. Since then I’ve sold prints to commercial and private collectors, written several books, taught countless workshops, and currently operate a membership site for photographers who want to become artists.

Ten years ago, at fifty, I decided to teach myself how to paint watercolor. The challenge and opportunity to expand my visual thinking and seeing was too great to resist, and within five years I was selling some of my work.

Technology has played a central role in all of these areas of my life. In fact I’d say without it I would not have gotten nearly as far as I have. I was a very early adopter of digital non-linear recording in my studio, had one of the first serious digital DSLRs (Canon 10D), and used YouTube extensively when teaching myself how to paint.

In every case, the technology provided different ways of achieving some result, whether that was a photograph, a novel sound, a recording, or a much easier way to learn. Not better necessarily but certainly different.

I didn’t shy away from these changes, nor did I ever fear them, I ran towards them with curiosity. Why? Because in every case I protected what mattered most to me: the intrinsic value of the craft, the creativity.

So it’s no surprise at all to me that at sixty, welcoming AI as a collaborator is the next step in my evolution of learning and growth—something I’ve never had before.

Truly realizing how much you don’t know about a particular domain, and being excited about that rather than dismayed, is a wonderful place to be, at any age. It means there’s an opportunity for more creativity, more meaning, more living. And that’s always been my ultimate goal.

What I’m doing now

My use of AI today spans two broad categories: my work and personal life (though there’s not much separation between the two in practice).

For example, at Creative Path Workshops, my AI assistants help me with all sorts of admin work that frees me up to focus on where I have the most to offer: teaching and coaching.

One of my favorite and most powerful workflows is having my AI analyze every coaching session or presentation I give to my students, and create several key documents: a content idea generator for future articles and presentations, insights based on questions and answers, and a “teaching assessment” that grades me across several metrics I care about to help me improve as a teacher and presenter.

I’ve also built many other tools that help me and my students, to my exact specs and needs.

In my personal life, I have several agents with different roles: a personal assistant for work, a health and fitness agent, and my favorite, “Leonardo,” a personal tutor who helps me with my polymathic aspirations.

I often ask Leonardo to challenge me on topics I think I know well, or want to learn more about. I ask it about the books I’m reading, or what books I might want to read next based on what it knows about me. If I’m honest, I’d give up all other uses of AI to keep this one.

Leonardo supports my curiosity, my desire to remain open to new ideas, new things to explore and learn, and keeps me excited about the future regardless of my age.

Why in public

Why am I sharing all of this? Because I’ve never really shared my process when learning or building something new, and this time I want to try something a little different.

Whether it’s been music, or photography, or painting, there have been failures, roadblocks, frustrations, and doubts. It’s taught me the journey is what matters, because each area prepared me for what came next.

What I haven’t done is invite anyone into my “workshop.” Solitude is nice, until it isn’t, and I’m curious about what I’ll learn by engaging and interacting with a larger community that shares my passion for learning and growth.

Who this is for

If you’re excited about the incredible opportunities that AI offers without compromising your craft or creativity, then I invite you to join me on this path.

This isn’t for those who want to automate every part of their lives, or give up the things that make them who they are. I use AI for a lot of things, but the thinking and creative pursuits are mine and only mine. The freedom to pursue them with more clarity is what AI enables for me.

We’re all learning how to use AI wisely, and so I welcome the guidance of others when it’s helpful.

Expect regular updates here on what I’m building, what breaks, and what I learn from it. They’re free, and they’ll stay that way.

Later this year, I’m holding a small live workshop on working with AI this way: a handful of people, a few weeks, building your own personal AI collaborator.

If you’d like a seat, reply to this email or leave a comment and tell me what you’d hope to get out of it. That will shape it more than anything I decide on my own.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to learn and build with AI, after I’ve made another attempt at that atmospheric cloud-filled sky. When I get it right, there’s no better feeling.

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