Clinton Township Newsletter

3 o c t o b e r 2 0 2 6 DAYS TO KEEP IN MIND Thur Oct 1 Breast Cancer Awareness Month Thur Oct 1 World Vegetarian Day Thur Oct 1 International Music Day Fri Oct 2 International Day of Non-Violence Mon Oct 5 World Teachers' Day Mon Oct 5 Child Health Day Wed Oct 7 International Day of Peaceful Communication Sat Oct 10 World Mental Health Day Mon Oct 12 Columbus Day (Most regions) Mon Oct 12 Native Americans' Day Wed Oct 14 National Stop Bullying Day Fri Oct 16 Dictionary Day (/dik•SH•ner•ē/) Sat Oct 24 United Nations Day Mon Oct 26 National Day of the Deployed Tue Oct 27 National Mentoring Day Wed Oct 28 National First Responders Day Thurs Oct 29 World Stroke Day Sat Oct 31 Halloween This month's October cover is actually my third design for this month. As I recall from the past, October is a tricky month for me to represent; should I go with scary? Spooky? Pretty? All of the above? Always in the back of my mind I remember that this is a family publication, and I don't want to frighten the little ones, nor do I want to annoy any readers who might be offended by skulls (I'm not a fan them in art, anyway), skeletons, or the like. And, how much AI is okay to use in design? I know that, for our older generation, AI can be a fun new toy – look what it an do! So fast... so cool! In my experience, the younger generation is fed up with it. At the same time, have you noticed how much of the AI art and design tends to look alike? I'm sure this will evolve very quickly, as do all aspects of artificial intelligence. And I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of all of the AI writing. You know what I mean – throw in an em-dash or six,,, combinations of three examples of something, false enthusiasm, and then a pithy comment. Followed by space... And another pity comment. Then more space... Then a cheeky declaration. Cut it out, please, A.I. For this cover, I used the oil painting, Still Life with Flowers and Fruit, by the Dutch painter Jan van Huysum (created between 1700 and 1749) which is in the public domain. I brought it into an AI program and had it redendered as an embroidered piece, and then I married the two layers in photoshop, so that the image flowed nicely (in my opinion) between oil painting and the artificial. I then added in some of the painting, Still Life with Roses, by Dutch painter Elias van den Broeck (painted between 1670 and 1708) also in the public domain, because, as you all know, I tend to be a maximalist when it comes to design. On top of all of this added a photograph of a praying mantis (spooky, right?) which I silhouetted in photoshop, and bought a new font, White Dove Script, for the "Clinton Township Newsletter" headline, (and "Ephemera" for the month and my name.) So that's it in a nutshell – I'll spare you the descriptions of the designs that I didn't end up using. I did not use AI to write this column, it's my own writing with all of its awkardness, but did to check my grammar. While a lot of us are enjoying using artificial intelligence, I do hope you'll also challenge yourself to use your own. And I hope you all have a fun, slightly spooky October! -Julie Flynn

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