Why My Art Is Human-Made, Not AI-Generated

There's been an extraordinary rise in AI-generated images over the last few years. Landscapes, portraits and almost any image you can imagine can now be generated in seconds from a written prompt.

As an artist selling my work online, I've noticed another side to this change. I've had people ask whether my artwork is AI-generated. I understand why the question is being asked. When so many images are now created digitally, it can be increasingly difficult to know what has actually been painted by an artist and what has been generated by a machine.

So I want to make something very clear about my own work: my original paintings are created by me, by hand, in my studio in Scotland.

My Paintings Start with Me, Not an AI Prompt

There isn't a generate button at the beginning of one of my paintings. There is an idea, a landscape, a photograph, a memory of a place, a colour or sometimes simply an atmosphere I want to explore.

From there, I have to make decisions. I decide what to include, what to simplify, where the horizon should sit, how the colours should work together and which parts of the landscape should dominate the composition.

Those decisions continue throughout the painting. I might strengthen a colour, change the sky, simplify a mountain or decide that something I originally intended to include isn't helping the finished work.

That process is part of painting for me. The finished artwork isn't simply a reproduction of the landscape. It's my interpretation of it.

The Imperfections Are Part of an Original Painting

One of the things I value about original art is that you can see evidence of how it was made. Brushwork, texture, layers of paint and small variations in the surface are all part of the physical artwork.

I don't want every mark to look mechanically perfect. Sometimes a brushstroke works precisely because it isn't perfect. Sometimes an unexpected mixture of colours produces something better than I originally intended.

There are also decisions underneath the finished surface that nobody else may ever see. Parts are painted over, colours change and compositions develop while I'm working.

Those aren't faults in the process. They are part of creating an original painting by hand.

The Difficult Middle of Making a Painting

Painting rarely moves neatly from an idea to a finished artwork.

There is often a stage in the middle when I'm not completely convinced that the painting is working. Something may be wrong with the composition, a colour may be fighting with everything around it or an area I've spent a long time working on may simply need to be painted over.

That's when experience becomes important. I've been painting since childhood, but that doesn't mean every painting becomes easy. I still have to make decisions, change direction and sometimes accept that something I've spent hours creating isn't working.

There isn't a prompt I can rewrite to solve that. I have to physically work through the painting until I find the answer.

Why I Still Paint by Hand

Technology is part of modern life and I use digital tools in running my business, website and online gallery. But creating my original paintings is different.

I want the artwork itself to come from the physical process of painting.

• Colour: I make decisions about colour as I work, mixing and adjusting it according to the landscape and atmosphere I'm trying to create.
• Texture: The physical surface and application of paint are part of the original artwork.
• Composition: I decide what remains, what disappears and how the different parts of the landscape relate to one another.
• Time: An original painting develops through the time I physically spend creating it.
• Intent: The decisions within the painting are mine. I know why I've changed a colour, removed a detail or placed emphasis on a particular part of the landscape.

Original Scottish Paintings Created in My Studio

My original Scottish landscape paintings are individually created in my studio in Scotland. I paint landscapes from throughout the country, including the Highlands, Glencoe, Skye, the Hebrides, lochs, mountains, beaches and the west coast.

Even when I return to the same landscape, I don't try to reproduce an earlier painting exactly. Light, colour, composition and atmosphere give me opportunities to interpret the location differently each time.

This is particularly important with an original painting. There is only one physical original, with its own surface, brushwork and history of how it developed in the studio.

What About Prints of My Paintings?

I also sell prints of my Scottish artwork and use imagery from my paintings across other products.

The distinction is important. A print is a reproduction of artwork I created. It doesn't mean the original image was generated by AI.

The artwork begins with my own creative work, and selected paintings can then be reproduced in other formats so that the imagery is available beyond the one original painting.

Commissioned Paintings Are Created by Me Too

The same applies to my commissioned artwork. If you ask me to paint a particular Scottish landscape, I use the photographs and information you provide as reference material and create the painting myself.

A commission isn't an AI-generated interpretation passed off as a painting. I physically create the artwork using the same approach I use for my other original work.

If you have a particular landscape in mind, you can find more information about commissioning an original Scottish landscape painting.

Why Knowing Who Made Your Art Matters

I think the growth of generative AI makes transparency increasingly important for artists selling their work online.

If you're buying an original painting, you should be able to understand who created it and how it was made. You shouldn't have to wonder whether the image you're looking at was painted by the person whose name appears beside it.

For me, being a Scottish landscape artist means actually making the work. It's the years spent developing my painting, the unsuccessful pieces, the experiments, the changes of direction and all the hours in the studio that eventually lead to the finished artwork.

Supporting Human-Made Art

When you buy directly from an independent artist, you're supporting the person who actually created the work.

That matters to me, particularly at a time when the distinction between human-made and machine-generated imagery isn't always immediately obvious online.

I don't need to pretend technology doesn't exist, and I don't think every discussion about AI needs to become an argument about whether technology is good or bad. I simply think collectors deserve clarity about what they're buying.

When you buy one of my original paintings, you're buying something I physically created. There are real decisions, changes, brushstrokes, paint and hours of work behind it.

I'm proud to continue creating my artwork this way, and I'm grateful to everyone who continues to value original art made by human hands.