MONTHLY MOOD—January: abstract chaos

January—the longest month of the year. A stretch of bill-paying, detoxing, self-flagellation, and arctic blasts. But also, fleeting days of sunshine that make the snow sparkle, cozy winter nights filled with warm meals, and the quiet magic of exploring a glittering world of elaborately decorated martyrs. Requiem aeternam.

For this month’s mood, I took a more intentional approach, grouping colors together rather than arranging them chronologically as I did in December. With the inherent ambiguity of "January," I felt that creating an abstract expressionist artwork—drawn from my collage’s color palette—would better capture the month's push and pull, its highs and lows, its bleakness and chicness.

As with the previous month, I used several text-to-image AI models, including Adobe Photoshop, Firefly, and Microsoft Designer. It’s fascinating to see how the same prompt can yield different results, and I enjoy using these tools not just to refine my prompt-writing but also to better understand the possibilities (and limitations) of AI in design work.

And, HERE is the final result. I continued to augment what was provided by the AI model but overall I was very pleased with how this turned out in compliment to the original photo collection.