ABOVE: “Early Spring Rain”
Originally published in the May-June 2026 Lincoln and Continental Comments magazine (Issue # 390)
By Bill Wolf
These days, it seems AI is on everybody’s mind. In five years, it will eliminate 90% of white-collar jobs, don’t you know. At the touch of a button, someone overseas can create a flawless issue of the Lincoln and Continental Comments in seconds without the quirks of a temperamental human editor, photographer, or art director. One can only imagine the deleterious effects on the local coffee economy here in Kokomo were that to happen!
The one thing that we have to remember is that AI is a tool. Like any tool, it is only as good as its operator. Give me a paintbrush and palette, no matter their quality, and with all the skill I can muster, I will never be the next Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, or Thomas Hart Benton. At the same time, with a battered old Underwood typewriter, a dictionary, and some correction fluid, I can craft prose that can take you into a special world that only my words can create.
In the right hands, AI can be a useful tool. I use it as one of many proofreading methods for this and other magazines. But I don’t blindly rely on it, and this is key. Like any other tool, one must understand its limitations and work within them.
The author of this article, Bill Wolf, has written for me at The Self-Starter for many years. Last year, he joined the LCOC and wrote an article about the Lincolns he spotted on a trip to New York City. No matter the publication, Bill always finds something interesting to comment upon.
What follows are some of Bill’s artistic creations. It helps me if I think of this as someone who works in the medium of “ones and zeros” rather than watercolors. But the idea is the same. A still life is a painting of one person’s perception of a place or thing at a particular moment in time. AI is faster, but it is still an interpretation through a lens, albeit a silicon one, tinted by human experience. Now, let’s enjoy what Mr. Wolf has cooked up for us today!- Ed.
Yes. I know. I left myself quite open. There may be some of you out there, philosophically or curmudgeonly, who would like to tell me exactly what I can do with AI. Pfui! AI will ruin everything. You look at a photo in a car club magazine, and now you can’t tell if it is real or not. Here is someone, someone crafty, bragging that there are only three of these rare Lincoln coupes in existence—and showing a handful of photographs of a very peculiar car and, also, scans of documents from FMC and some obscure coachbuilder from Wisconsin. Nope! Everything looks real as real can be, but it whispers and shouts of fakery, chicanery. How soon will it be before we are absolutely certain that we will be absolutely unable to distinguish the real from what is not? Oh, sure, the history of photography has a chapter on manipulation and weird darkroom effects, but it is light-years away from the AI-graphy of today. Let us just imagine what the next few generations of AI will bring. We do know that it will inevitably—however, whenever, whatever— bring both the yin and the yang, the light and the darkness. But today, let us set aside our concerns and objections; let us now focus on the entertaining side of AI technology.
Rainy day. Sky of gray. And whilst driving through some connecting New Jersey towns and neighborhoods, I found my share of Lincolns. (Some of these cars are decades old and still in service.) When the weather comes damp and gray, it adds une touche romantique.
So when a Lincoln would show its grille or taillights in a parking lot or on the road, I snapped. And later, going through my files, I found some favorite photos shot on clear, sunny days. But I wanted to keep the stormy weather as a thematic element for this brief pictorial. So I chatted with ChatGPT—and found there a competent rainmaker. But why stop there? Add a touch of the Old Masters’ painting techniques. Add a touch of Walt Disney or a heavy nod to Norman Rockwell. AI handled all of these easily, and as it chatted with me, offering suggestions or clarifying my requests, we had some absorbing conversations. We found some amusement and compiled this sweet collection of Lincoln-themed gems. At this point, we can’t even call one of these creations, these collaborations between me and the machine, a photograph any longer. Image? Metaphor? Artistry? Simulacrum? Fabulation?
Bill Wolf is an LCOC member from Union, New Jersey.
ABOVE: “Duer Lincoln”
ABOVE: “Yellow Skies”
ABOVE: “Keep smiling no matter what”
ABOVE: “Couple in the rain”
ABOVE: “Narrow, Rockwellian Bridge”
ABOVE: “A Study for the old Saturday Evening Post?”
ABOVE: “Head of the Pack”
ABOVE: “Waiting out the weather”
ABOVE: “Foggy day in New Jersey”
ABOVE: “Looks like bad weather!”
ABOVE: “Track practice”