Stromboli Google Gemini

 

I asked Google Gemini AI to create atmospheric painting in the style of Piranesi using my uploaded photograph. I think AI did very well after a bit of prompting. 

 

 

Two Volcanoes one Guvnor

 

'Two Volcanoes' - Pen and ink tinted with water colour 

" Loads of lava at dusk"

Can anyone remember where I left my phone?

 

Smartphones

From the breadth of my brain

And from the depth of my heart

I can find no evidence that

A smartphone makes anyone smart.

No longer restricted by care, cost or geo location

We cling to our annually upgradeable box fresh toys 

Waving them to find a satellite signal

And transmit a stream of mindless multimedia noise.

"An arse in Atlanta warns against innoculation

A prat in Penrith wants more racial discrimination 

A prepper in Preston believes I'm poorly prepared 

A Charismatic called Carry sends prayers to be shared

A flag-shagger from Fleet is joining a crusade

The community college wants to teach me a trade

A nazi in nonce bonnet is guarding a beach

A wrong grocer from Wrexham wants to show me his peach.

Local women over fifty are desperate to hear from me

Doctors offering penis enlargement, a hip replacement or a new knee.

Hundreds of Nigel photos where he looks so shifty

Offers of financial planning for the downright grifty

Proposals of investments guaranteed to better inflation 

A quick basic burial or a no frills cremation

 

Lots of shares you are warned, can go up but also down

The birth of a child, the recent death of a clown.

And if you're real sad and feel down in the dumps

You can compare eco offers for efficient heat pumps

A romantic marriage offer from a Ugandan Prince

And the money you loaned him and haven't seen since

With a smartphone you see, the fun never quite ends

With millions of contacts and very few friends"

George Roberts -techno-doggerel - the screens nurse the screens!

Lava pool

 

" Stromboli seldom disappoints"

Temple of Concordia

 

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Temple of Concordia watercolour sketch on paper- George Roberts, September 2026

"Soundly sleeps our fallen hero 

Let him take his rest

Awaiting for a call to arms

And another Herculean quest".

Stromboli in serious moonlight.

 

Stromboli explosions under a Harvest Moon.

Hephaestus is still forging Hellenic bronze

Creating caldera flames in an autumnal sky 

The Moon rising full above the waves

In memorial salute for gladiators long ago about to die.

We watch dolphins chase amberjack in and out the blue water 

Did Argonauts or Odysseus once row in these warm waves?

In pursuit of a golden fleece or lost on the way home to Penelope.

Did Plato chase reality's shadows in lava bright volcanic caves?

One flight away are home, friends and family.

But further away still are planets, stars and moon.

Sagittarius the horseman and Scorpius with bright red Antares.

Each will roll and dip in turn below our horizon soon

It seems to us on our fast moving boat

That tonight all times, present and past

Have come together in the moonlight 

Under just one mast.

George Roberts - 'Cheerful doggerel'  September 2026.

The Harvest Moon

 

The Harvest Moon shone bright on our trip back from Stromboli. What a beautiful island Sicily is!