Tag Archives: darkness

Daily AI Art Challenges Week of 6/22/26

This week’s art challenges were fun.

The first challenge of the week was “Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.” And it turned out to be tricky. The AI got very confused trying to put hands and items over three totally different areas (ears, eyes, and mouths.) I went with an underwater scene because I liked the idea of shells, seaweed, fish or something. It took a number of tries, but I was finally able to get a decent one.

6/22/26 “Mermaids: No Hear See Speak”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.

My mermaid image won! So it was my turn to create a challenge. I went with “Style Mismatch”, which is where the subject should contrast with the chosen style, model, or feel of the finished piece. For instance, Cathulhu using a sweet model like Olafs-Papilloria. Or a sweet little kitten using a dark model like Olafs-Graveborn. These are the two examples I shared.

6/23/26 “Cute Cathulhu” & “Kitten Graveborn”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Everyone came up with really interesting ones. Then the next day we were challenged to the theme of “After Dark.” I went with a ghost child swinging on a playground late at night.

6/24/26 “Lonely Ghost Boy”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.

The next day’s challenge was called BALENCIAGA! We were supposed to creatae high fashion with an outfit made from something unexpected, like garbage bags or food. I went with a book theme.

6/25/26 “Book Couture”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on ChatGPT.

Next up was a vintage challenge that had elements of nostalgia, retro, pin-up, sepia, black-and-white, or similar concepts. Mine was great.

6/26/26 “Nuclear Tanning”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on ChatGPT.

Mine won! It really was a good one. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I got to create the next day’s idea. I chose the idea of an image featuring a being with a disability or an assistive device as a natural part of the scene. Wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, canes, walkers, crutches, hearing aids, service animals, communication devices, adaptive sports equipment, and other accessibility tools are all welcome. The focus is on inclusion and of course must be respectful. Here was my example:

6/27/26 “Ballet Dancer”

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on ChatGPT.

And here are some of the honorable mentions that I did not submit, but still published on my art website:

Hafiz – Poem 41

All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 41:

The sanctuary of the heart is no place
For the company of antagonists

Where a demon departs
An angel arrives

Some thoughts:

This one is lovely. The imagery is that of simply letting go of negativity to make space for the beauty and love that will naturally flow into the vacuum created. We don’t have to do anything special to fill ourselves with goodness. We simply must make room. Remove bitterness and compassion can enter. Release antagonistic thoughts and peace has a place. Let go of prideful arrogance and humility will naturally make a home inside us. Release fear and love can breathe easily. There is no demon to fight, no dragon to slay, no war to be waged. They are simply not invited in, like vampires whose welcome has been rescinded. We would not walk into a sacred temple and spit on the floor. Our hearts deserve as much respect.

What are we allowing to dwell in our inner sanctuaries? Is it time for some hangers-on to be evicted? Our heart is not supposed to house every wound, fear, resentment, and lie we have ever been told. When harm finally leaves, healing can walk in quietly and take up occupancy. Instead of having to vanquish foes, we must merely open a window and allow pain to exit so holiness can enter. Time to do some inner house cleaning.

My Poem 41:

Sweep out the house.
Dirt belongs outside,
not in our hearts.
Throw back the curtains
and open the windows.

The stale air must exit,
so a fresh breeze,
sweet with spring scents,
can fill our space.
Then healing can begin.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Hafiz – Poem 39

All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 39:

Forgive the warring of the 72 nations
Not having seen the truth
They’ve gone down the road of fantasy

Some thoughts:

This poem took a little digging to learn about the number 72 in mystical Sufism and other Islamic cultural contexts. Apparently, it was a known phrase representing division or splits that people would have recognized as symbolic, rather than literal. The idea of 72 sects or religious groups became shorthand for fragmentation of what was once unified in hadith literature and early Islamic traditions. For Hafiz to mention 72 nations was to at once tap into phrasing his audience would recognize as representative of all the human groups of the world.

What is even more interesting to me is that he is not condemning all these nations for their shortsightedness but asking for their forgiveness. “They know not what they do.” They are caught in “the illusion” rather than recognizing the truth of peace and harmony. All the nations of the earth come from the same source. We all return to the same source after death. Why not live united in kindness, shared humanity, and communal peace during our short time in this reality? Such a question we could pose to the 197 nations in existence on our planet right now.

My Poem 39:

Can you truly not see
the shimmering promise
of a peaceful tomorrow?

The glow of city lights lies just over the horizon
where nation shall not rise up against nation.

This morass of darkness and despair
is not the truth you seek in your waiting
but merely an illusory nonsensical hellscape.

Continue to put one foot
in front of the other until you reach
the promised land of unity and peace,
where bees drip honey into mouths
open only to speak kind words,
and dams nurse calves languidly,
without fear of being separated by war.

Flowers are grown along every path purely
for making friendship wreaths and decorative
garlands to be given away free of cost or consequence
because nothing is required nor demanded of citizens
in this place beyond breath and awareness and love.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Lesson 13 The Way of the Wizard

(Poem 90 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“God made this world, so it must be interesting enough to keep His attention. If you find things growing tired or stale or predictable, perhaps it is you who have lost the capacity to be interested.” Merlin-Deepak Chopra’s The Way of the Wizard    

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com  https://gencraft.ai/p/OAArtS

This shadow world we grope through in darkness
must be illuminated inwardly to see the real.
Once we know something to be true and bind the
experience with the label of words, the trap has sprung.
Reality is the trembling of a delicate bird we have
caught, its heart thumping in our hands like a
quivering reed, who will perish if we hold it too long.
To go beyond the frontier of the known, we must
“forget everything and anticipate nothing.”
Only then will we pierce the boundary of perception
that challenges our familiarity with our limitations,
reveal spaces enmeshed in our everyday awareness
that are nuances, textures, aromas of beyond.
The unknown will beckon us from our shadow prisons,
and we will fly away, release by our own hands.

@Home Studio – 90th poem of the year

Chopra, Deepak. The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want. New York, United States of America, Harmony Books, 1995, pp. 90-95.

Sleep is My Favorite Activity

(Poem 73 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/GCc85W

Sleep is my favorite activity.
I think it always has been.
It’s just a little harder now
to reach the perfect bliss.
When I was young and firm,
sleep came easy, just dripped
like candle wax on my pillow.
Now I need my cpap machine,
a supersonic fan on blast,
the right kind of darkness
that blocks out memory,
the right kind of quiet
that sets the stage for dreams,
the perfect temperature set,
all my pillows plumped just so,
my grounding sheets tucked,
and my husband by my side.

@Home Studio – 73rd poem of the year

Certain Hallucinations Scurry

(Poem 35 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/h8lcXM

Certain hallucinations scurry like
wolf fox spider lizards on the periphery,
while others hover menacingly close.
Some wail a cacophony of muted pain
at the edge of consciousness’ spine,
competing with their counterparts’ whispers.
Knowing they are not tangible threats
does little to calm the heart in the dark,
rather their insubstantial qualities enhance
the mystery surrounding their existence.
They persist like webs of lies tangled,
ever-expanding and contracting in
sympathy with sleep, though negatively
correlated and eager to maintain a foothold.

@Home Studio – 35th poem of the year

Runner ups for the AI Creepy Hallucinations photos to accompany my poem: