Tag: dailyprompt

James Swan “Jalen “.

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

WordPress Daily Prompt:06/04/25

James Swan “Jalen “.

Daily Prompt: Do You Remember Your Favorite Book from Childhood?

Simple answer? No. And honestly, that’s kind of sad.

I wasn’t read to as a child—no Peter Pan, no Winnie the Pooh. My relationship with books didn’t start in a rocking chair; it started with a struggle. I had trouble reading early on, and it wasn’t until an elderly librarian took notice and quietly taught me how to read that everything shifted. The first book I do remember? The Last of the Mohicans. I was about nine or ten, and it opened a door into the world of early North America, indigenous history, and the vast, often ignored legacy of the people who lived there long before settlers arrived.

That genre followed me for years, shaping how I saw history—not from the perspective of conquerors, but from the lens of those who lost everything. That early reading obsession was probably the closest thing I had to real friends in childhood.

Now, as a retired American artist living in Thailand for 18 years, married to a Thai spouse and helping raise younger Thai children, I find myself teaching them English—not just grammar, but the power of reading. Books are still freedom, especially when your environment doesn’t offer a wide choice. Here, book access is limited and expensive. No dusty 25-cent paperbacks stacked high in old bookstores. Most of my reading is digital now, often about art, artists, and the creative world I work in through JalenWallArt.com.

Life here is a contrast—lush, layered, and complex. I paint that complexity into every piece I create. And maybe through art, books, and teaching, I can pass on something deeper: the idea that language and story are keys to understanding where we come from—and who we might still become.

James Swan “Jalen “.

06/04/25

Bangkok,Thailand.

https:jalenwallart.com

James Swan “Jalen “.

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

WordPress Daily Prompt:

06/03/25

Title:Epiphany of Youth  

James Swan “Jalen .“

06/03/25

Some books don’t just sit quietly on a shelf they explode into your life, rearranging your perspective, demanding action. That’s exactly what happened to me in my early twenties when literature became more than words; it became a roadmap, a manifesto, a fire that burned through convention.  

Jack Kerouac was the voice of that era for me, and “On the Road” was the ignition. It wasn’t just a novel,it was gospel. Reading it, I knew I had to live it, breathe it, embody it. No money, no safety net, just the open highway and the kind of reckless freedom only youth can fully embrace. Kerouac didn’t just write about life,he devoured it whole, and I was ready to do the same.  

Then came “Mexico City Blues”, a poetic wildfire,a chaotic, jazz infused experience that blurred the lines between consciousness and delirium. It wasn’t a book you merely read; it was a book you inhabited. The rhythm of it seeped into my own days, shaping nights spent in the Pacific Northwest’s Blue Moon Tavern, where minds met, ideas collided, and the world felt wide open.  

I might be hazy on the third book, but “The Dharma Bums” feels right, because it spoke to that deeper yearning, the desire to disconnect from the constructs of modern life and embrace something raw, something spiritual. And then, of course, there was “Another Roadside Attraction”, weaving surrealism into reality, reflecting the absurdities and revelations of youth in the Vietnam era.  

These books didn’t just entertain, they shaped ideology, forged rebellion, fueled a generation that refused to conform. We weren’t the “All in the Family” types. We were the ones with thumbed paperbacks shoved into our back pockets, hitchhiking across North America, throwing ourselves into existence with nothing but ideas and audacity.  

Would I do it all again? Probably not. But at the time, it was everything. A baptism by fire. The epiphany that living wasn’t about following a predetermined path, it was about carving one out with nothing but instinct and a refusal to settle.

James Swan “Jalen .“

06/03/25

Bangkok, Thailand 

https://jalewallart.com

James Swan “Jalen “.

What fears have you overcome and how?

Title: Jalen Wall Art — WordPress Daily Prompt:06/02/25

Prompt: “What fears have you overcome and how?”

Jalen Wall Art — WordPress Daily Prompt’

Prompt: “What fears have you overcome and how?”

I’ve never been a web designer, but I’ve worked beside one digitally, from a distance for over five websites now. Ms. Shumaila Afzal(https://getsoftapps.com) and I have never met in person.

 She’s in Pakistan, I’m in Thailand. Our entire collaboration was built through online exchanges, digital trust, and a kind of instinctual creative chemistry.

Before finding her, I struck out with at least three other developers. Starting anything new, especially technical, would fill me with fear.

 I’m not trained in code. I’m a writer, a blogger, and now, somehow, an artist. But every time I leapt into a new creative venture ,whether it was rebuilding a blog, launching a new domain, or trying a new visual medium,I just kept moving forward.

What’s unique about my art journey is that it didn’t begin traditionally. 

I didn’t start painting with brushes or formal lessons.

 I began with early AI tools way back when the models were crude, even prehistoric compared to what’s possible now.

 I used those editorial assistants to build content, shape ideas, and eventually, teach myself how to see.

When image generation arrived, I jumped in.

 I took sketches, references, raw ideas and let AI show me possibilities.

 From there, I layered in real world mediums: charcoal, block ink, pastel.

 I taught myself to paint on paper and canvas. 

Then I circled back and digitized those works again, painting over them with a stylus, refining them with hybrid techniques.

I’ve had deep fears around digital painting apps like “Infinite Painter”. It still intimidates me.

 I dive in anyway. 

I create because it’s the only way I know how to grow.

I’ve overcome the fear of not being good enough, not being technical enough, not being “real” enough.

 The truth is: I’m not an AI artist.

 I’m just an artist. 

And everything I’ve learned through blogging, collaborating, failing, restarting now feeds a practice that’s uniquely mine.

That’s how I rebuild. 

That’s how I begin again. Every time.

James Swan “Jalen “

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06/02/25

Bang, Thailand