MY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL RECOVERY THROUGH MIDJOURNEY

On the last day of May 2022, my six year old son and I endured a horrible incident where a homeless man on Crystal Meth, tried to kill us. We both survived but the lingering impact of what happened has taken a physical and mental toll on me and my family. (this post has the gory details if you're interested)

As an artist and writer the use of my hands and my brain on a daily basis are imperative to my success. I currently live with pain and in discomfort with every move of my both of my hands and I am currently undergoing Occupational Therapy at Cedars Sinai. It's been a very tough situation to be in but I am forcing myself to try and type a little bit every day to use my hands and try and get back to normal. Every touch of the keyboard hurts, especially when I stretch my thumbs and fingers to reach for words. It's hard not to get frustrated but I just keep telling myself that it will get better and I just have to be patient and heal one day at a time.

BUT that's not the most difficult part of my recovery. I was hit on the head several times. I think it was four or five but honestly I am not sure. I was hit on the right side of my head but am currently experiencing a constant tingling on the back of my head and at least 4 days a week I wake up with a throbbing headache behind my right eye. It's extremely difficult to look at bright lights, watch screens and use a computer--which has been very hard to balance since our lives are so involved with the digital realm. My memory is spotty my speech sometimes slurs and I just don;t feel like myself.

The mental toll of PTSD and the horror that my son endured watching his father fight to the death with a criminally insane maniac is also one exhausting piece of trauma I will forever battle on a daily basis. I am not the same person I was on May 30th and I never will be again.

This has severely impacted and impeded my ability to write and draw. So I have turned to Midjourney as a way to feed my creative fire while unable to draw and write. I was first introduced by good friend and sometime creative collaborator, Steve Coulson. As one of the most brilliantly creative minds I know, Coulson is one of the brains behind the experiential agency Campfire. He created the first comic book generated entirely by AI art from Midjourney. For an in depth interview about the comic and the process, check out this article by David Gianatasio of the Cleo Award media publication Muse.

Additionally another inspiring artist is Dr. Nettrice Gaskins whose Solarpunk and Afropunk explorations of fashion, reality and the essence of African American women has truly been inspiring during my healing process. She's a pioneer in AI art and an amazing human being as well, so please give her a follow.

Midjourney has been my saving grace as I have generated tons of crazy art. From Solarpunk to dark horror it's been fun to just think of something and generate it...AND not have to draw it out. Below are some of the things I have made over the last two months while I recover. I cannot wait to heal and begin to work on some of these concepts in Photoshop, to bring them to completion.