A new shift in art is upon us, in the form of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The media are abuzz with fear-mongerers predicting the end of the traditional art market, that “the AI” will replace the creative process of the human artist. Nothing to see here, folks - we’ve been here before.

Pick almost any area of human endeavour, and you will find that modern, new approaches trump the old.

Then why is it that in art, painting in particular, there is so much hankering after the “techniques of the old masters”? Every second art teacher seems to want to reveal centuries-old “secrets” that students might miss if they pass on their (usually limited-time) offers.

I’ve mentioned this idea before - that there are many “streams” of art practice in the painting field. Let me put it to you this way…

Learning about art can be confusing… You may have encountered this when watching expert painters expounding on technique, they seem often to be quite dogmatic about their use of different methods.

Traditionally, we think of a print from an original artwork as somehow inferior and it usually sells for less than the original piece. But times have changed, and the printing industry has transformed the process over the last few decades… There are various reasons why a print of an original oil painting might fetch less than an original.

You know the way it goes… an art browser says “But I could have done that…!”. To which the cheeky response is usually, “Then why haven’t you?“… One step along, and it becomes “But a child could have done that…!”. Well - have you seen any of Matisse’s stuff?