The other day someone asked a few questions about generative art on Twitter, to which a few artists, including myself, replied. The questions were more precisely about aesthetic quality, technical novelty, supply, and the new ways of creating. So here's a resume of my thoughts on the topic with some insights and updates on my own creative journey. The first question was if aesthetic quality always align with technical novelty and how collectors can distinguish between the two. I think aesthetic is subjective and that technical novelty doesn’t mean it necessarily looks good and vice versa. Collectors can be interested in specific works for many different reasons without necessarily caring for the other aspects. Therefore asking questions to the artists is generally a good idea to understand what the work and intents are all about. And like my friend and fellow artist, Pawel Dudko said, when experimenting with new tools & media, very often the visual remain simple. Which made me realize that it's very reflective of the evolution of my own journey of making art on Bitcoin. If you look at my earliest works, complemented with a few key details about how and why they were created a certain way, I think some of the less obvious things are now slowly starting to take form and make sense. Over the last year I put a lot of focus on developing textures because it’s something that resonates with me and makes the work feel alive. Half-digital, half-organic, all of which aligns with this vague idea of what I want to create. Yet, what I do isn’t technically novel - but to me, it’s irrelevant because in the end I follow my own interests. The second question was if the ability to code with AI could see new works created at an ever increasing rate. I don’t think the recent use of AI for coding art is what is going to mindlessly flood the market. Ultimately I believe it all comes down to the artist intent to prevent over-saturation, regardless of the medium. While AI is a game changer for traditionally non-coder artists like myself, especially when it comes to generative art, the AI itself doesn’t do the work for you, it merely puts your ideas into codes. Not only does it takes time and A LOT of iterations, it requires developing an understanding of the processes and frameworks needed to get the result you’re looking for. The third question was if the supply was an arbitrary decision and if there was a right supply amount to express a specific concept. Again, all depends on th artist's intent. While I think the supply is ultimately arbitrary, there are at least a few points worth keeping in mind. For larger supply that are fully random aka "Long Form" - no curation by the artist on the final outputs, minting without parachute, it usually requires an algorithm that is tighter and more tamed to avoid weaker/bad outputs and keep consistent quality within the collection etc. For 1/1s and curated series, which is more in line with my personal interest and broader process I tend to keep the algo "wild" and often generate many outputs (within the same idea) from which I pick the one I resonate with on a given day. This allows me to keep moving and continuously explore different ideas, as well as improving and changing specific aspects of my base algo and add/remove & craft new small functions, as I see fit. This approach is better suited for my quest to define this vague idea that drives me, and so I continuously iterate and evolve with it - and only from time to time I stop to inscribe something Either because I have something to say, something to document or I reached a fictive milestone where I feel satisfied (for a short moment) with the work that is in front of me. However, this kind of approach wouldn't work for large supply (long-form). If I wanted to do a long-form I'd need to stop the continuous exploration and focus on tightening one single idea at a time, for a long period of time. Which is against my desire to iterate on this vague idea of what my work should be. Finally, the last question was if there are generative artists that had blown our minds and how. For me it was William Mapan and his collection 'Anticyclone', one of my all-time favorite collection. The textures and colors are just yummy - but most importantly, early on my generative journey, I was able to connect dots and discover new perspectives & insights on how to create the works I wanted to do, thanks to some of his social media posts where he showed glimpses into his own process. While I wasn’t able to do the things he was doing, nor do I even remember what it was today, for some reason it brought me back to how I used to produce music in my early 20s, with multiple tracks on top of one another. This eventually lead me to develop my own ways and process to create my generative works with p5js. Now let's get further back in time with the backstory of my series "Tad Small" to add more context into my broader creative journey on Bitcoin. When I did "Tad Small" in May 2023, I did it this way because all the other works I was doing were too big and expensive to inscribe back then. I wasn’t in the best spot financially at the time but I really wanted to keep creating and put my works on Bitcoin. ‘Tad Small’ are micro canvas, almost like pixel art, less than 1 KB each if I remember correctly. Why I highlight this collection? Because, it helped me see my journey of art on Bitcoin differently. From there on, I started to create for Bitcoin, by always keeping the constraints of the chain and cost of inscribing at the top of my mind. While I understand many artists don’t want or cannot change or adapt their style, I think it’s always interesting to explore new tools and techniques to help you create works that resonates with you, all while keeping the constraints of your environment at the forefront. Following 'Tad Small', in the summer of 2023 I did quite a few mini-series using similar "simple/minimal/flat" approach, partly because the file size were small, but also because I simply had fun making these works (digitally hand drawn). Think of my series like 'Berlin', 'Polaroid', 'Mending Fragments' and many others. By being able to inscribe these works using new techniques, I was able to show the world that I'm here to create, experiment, improve and stick around - these works were crucial to me in understanding certain things in my general approach to creating on Bitcoin, as well as connecting with new collectors and supporters in the space at the time. While these works from summer 2023 may look drastically different than what I'm evolving into right now, which is heavily texturized, You can already see tiny glimpse of this vague idea that I have in mind with my 'Gentlemen' collection as early as March 2023. The stained-half-organic-half-digital-chic-trash vibe. The real me, somewhat punk, somewhat unpolished and raw, but always true. The issue was that works like 'Gentlemen', 'Lotus', and even some 1/1s from 'The Artifacts', were created using mix-media (AI and Krita) and such works tend to be heavy file size, often impossible to inscribe on Bitcoin unless compressed - and from the very start of my journey I always wanted the highest quality file to be the one on-chain, hence why I eventually decided to explore creating with code, using p5js. P5js allows for full-high-resolution artworks (press 'S' from the content link of the inscription) at a fraction of the size compared to plain JPG/PNG/WEBP file. You could say inscribing in HTML (p5js) is a cheat code on Bitcoin. But similarly, here again, at first I had to familiarize myself with this new tool and through hundreds and thousands of iterations I was slowly able to craft works that resonated with me. If at first I was exploring simple themes and ideas, mostly without explicit textures, little by little I started to figure things out. Things like how to craft textures to my taste following this vague idea in my mind, and just overall how to bring the works where I wanted it to be. Yet the best kept secret, for me, was always the HTML format allowing me to leave text notes at the top, just like the text you're reading now. Initially, I wasn't writing much but as time went by I started to value my writings more and more, until it gains the same importance as the visual, like I do now. These notes are opening so many doors creatively speaking by complementing my works and allowing me to explore & express things beyond what we see at first glance. Recently someone pointed out that one of my work felt like Egyptian hieroglyphs. What I find fascinating about this observation is how it aligns with my broader ideas. There are definitely hints of old cave pictographs and hieroglyphs in what I strive to create. Most of which can be seen in my latest works from "1/1s (2024) by Lemonhaze". I’ve always loved the analogy between these ancient pictorial elements and the act of inscribing my works on Bitcoin. Both hold the potential to survive the test of time, becoming modern-day relics, much like those ancient carvings etched in history. If most people right now can't see the work that I do, the little details in the textures and the text notes in the HTML - I have faith someday someone will. But rest assured that I know much more can be done, that's why my best work is always the next one and I keep walking with the Kaizen mindset.

PART ONE (Provenance): This Gentleman Special Edition 2025 will serve as the parent inscription for my 1/1s in 2025 This work will be inscribed on Uncommon Sat - 1970586875000000 Sat Date from 2024-05-31 05:36:54 UTC - IYKYK - Thank You Honoring the original collection from my pre-parent-child era. Gentlemen by Lemonhaze (2023) "Gentlemen is a work in progress reflecting on the person I want to become for the love of my life. Becoming a gentleman is a lifelong process, a journey that only ends with my death. The Gentlemen are meant to inspire loyalty, integrity, love, and chivalrous behavior. I inscribe them as I see fit, as my soul asks for it. Money alone can't buy it." Nº1 - id: 757c7d19f53501b9f1e11f49f1731622d5d257eed99c721b32af0438d0d1f9cfi0 Nº2 - id: d79da404fdb54920a2b5f4abf36927f12bb32db2fe65a2d745f6272f61c37bc2i0 Nº3 - id: d17d6c2e96c9b129ec1fbb9a21742e06a063976494d306f6b4086a519913cc92i0 Nº4 - id: 5e2aca86c47cf065ff8e2e7c504dd995fd18d362ae0c84dace7f8e949cb08789i0 Nº5 - id: 85ced879b0ea14b10e82b55242b415c66b942c0ffc7248c3621ed6de3f21ac20i0 Nº6 - id: adfb187edd46c3125d74e91ee32817aa23b41fbc93982c137d7f83bed6cf3f3ci0 Nº7 - id: 8c0e4189127c293ea65f948f691ac2075581c6aba5a80efb988de472300928b9i0 Nº8 - id: a5773f41e19253d134e7ee3da3c10f0ab7514fa411eb394eac23b0e5d7b0ca0bi0 Nº9 - id: 63ed9211757080b3d55f25c986b6b278b7b49b1f1a13bfdb4768859653288a95i0 Nº10 - id: c85a9875a869086ecfddc68717016d0430514750d29c3aeda19a5e76bb4e7f09i0 Nº11 - id: 496c6a2527d78b8babac12dd508e0acdf7a189d6925bd1f21042f9c7b57ed051i0 Nº12 - id: d573dcd9b704a0fa1792e11e931a1ba135cc5d0d12e4f1b3cd99e475b4ee9104i0 Nº13 - id: 018a61a1fe792c3b88f78eec676284d248134af97b8ac92441f84528f6af493fi0 Nº14 - id: c4b6451e169799c321d4f1d9d66c49ebc2c768d8f5d605433112b66c3287be04i0 Nº15 - id: 7502486cda49a44cbbe5ef73f7555da07ab706e6a1474359821e932f91b476f6i0 Nº16 - id: 7c6c7110558f90cb8e995d3d9d80ccc451255402d44935dc8070fe8ea435fc3ci0 Nº17 - id: 24ebc878297f6814093e8b77d5cb624fcf976a8ef3b6cbc8a5b7bff42ce5e900i0 Nº18 - id: afd6064d31cdf3f540ccb958df4c9c74d90e12d0e999f879756f523de7e9ed5di0 Nº19 - id: 7ba7fc89c1f0a62fc378d1b04c1e98180c1cf25baed2788a08a0998594b58596i0 Nº20 - id: 459b2473398d868c9ca74856fc48c58a51eb2cbb9cc9036ac6cdb70da598b796i0 Nº21 - id: 7d63e37e4006e93d816beadd5396ea4e904d932854c54986a99363baced1cee3i0 Nº22 - id: 7d9194149d4067f30457c8f9dee19ee36f9834566118ca16091ba3e2bc6124c5i0 Nº23 - id: a3e67b4423e90e0ab0246cb4e1dd0e7029aade2803afe80c23a3d0da67507098i0 Nº24 - id: fda60c5f61aaf687a37e297b2d57dc7e1bd87fc2e4d2a5f51a9ece3c511f4f4ai0 Nº25 - id: 472c57208d1b9d0e9f264ee50406e2eb360a956bdcf85a7c833a17280fcd9df7i0 PART TWO (Process): The other day someone asked a few questions about generative art on Twitter, to which a few artists, including myself, replied. The questions were more precisely about aesthetic quality, technical novelty, supply, and the new ways of creating. So here's a resume of my thoughts on the topic with some insights and updates on my own creative journey. The first question was if aesthetic quality always align with technical novelty and how collectors can distinguish between the two. I think aesthetic is subjective and that technical novelty doesn’t mean it necessarily looks good and vice versa. Collectors can be interested in specific works for many different reasons without necessarily caring for the other aspects. Therefore asking questions to the artists is generally a good idea to understand what the work and intents are all about. And like my friend and fellow artist, Pawel Dudko said, when experimenting with new tools & media, very often the visual remain simple. Which made me realize that it's very reflective of the evolution of my own journey of making art on Bitcoin. If you look at my earliest works, complemented with a few key details about how and why they were created a certain way, I think some of the less obvious things are now slowly starting to take form and make sense. Over the last year I put a lot of focus on developing textures because it’s something that resonates with me and makes the work feel alive. Half-digital, half-organic, all of which aligns with this vague idea of what I want to create. Yet, what I do isn’t technically novel - but to me, it’s irrelevant because in the end I follow my own interests. The second question was if the ability to code with AI could see new works created at an ever increasing rate. I don’t think the recent use of AI for coding art is what is going to mindlessly flood the market. Ultimately I believe it all comes down to the artist intent to prevent over-saturation, regardless of the medium. While AI is a game changer for traditionally non-coder artists like myself, especially when it comes to generative art, the AI itself doesn’t do the work for you, it merely puts your ideas into codes. Not only does it takes time and A LOT of iterations, it requires developing an understanding of the processes and frameworks needed to get the result you’re looking for. The third question was if the supply was an arbitrary decision and if there was a right supply amount to express a specific concept. Again, all depends on th artist's intent. While I think the supply is ultimately arbitrary, there are at least a few points worth keeping in mind. For larger supply that are fully random aka "Long Form" - no curation by the artist on the final outputs, minting without parachute, it usually requires an algorithm that is tighter and more tamed to avoid weaker/bad outputs and keep consistent quality within the collection etc. For 1/1s and curated series, which is more in line with my personal interest and broader process I tend to keep the algo "wild" and often generate many outputs (within the same idea) from which I pick the one I resonate with on a given day. This allows me to keep moving and continuously explore different ideas, as well as improving and changing specific aspects of my base algo and add/remove & craft new small functions, as I see fit. This approach is better suited for my quest to define this vague idea that drives me, and so I continuously iterate and evolve with it - and only from time to time I stop to inscribe something Either because I have something to say, something to document or I reached a fictive milestone where I feel satisfied (for a short moment) with the work that is in front of me. However, this kind of approach wouldn't work for large supply (long-form). If I wanted to do a long-form I'd need to stop the continuous exploration and focus on tightening one single idea at a time, for a long period of time. Which is against my desire to iterate on this vague idea of what my work should be. Finally, the last question was if there are generative artists that had blown our minds and how. For me it was William Mapan and his collection 'Anticyclone', one of my all-time favorite collection. The textures and colors are just yummy - but most importantly, early on my generative journey, I was able to connect dots and discover new perspectives & insights on how to create the works I wanted to do, thanks to some of his social media posts where he showed glimpses into his own process. While I wasn’t able to do the things he was doing, nor do I even remember what it was today, for some reason it brought me back to how I used to produce music in my early 20s, with multiple tracks on top of one another. This eventually lead me to develop my own ways and process to create my generative works with p5js. Now let's get further back in time with the backstory of my series "Tad Small" to add more context into my broader creative journey on Bitcoin. When I did "Tad Small" in May 2023, I did it this way because all the other works I was doing were too big and expensive to inscribe back then. I wasn’t in the best spot financially at the time but I really wanted to keep creating and put my works on Bitcoin. ‘Tad Small’ are micro canvas, almost like pixel art, less than 1 KB each if I remember correctly. Why I highlight this collection? Because, it helped me see my journey of art on Bitcoin differently. From there on, I started to create for Bitcoin, by always keeping the constraints of the chain and cost of inscribing at the top of my mind. While I understand many artists don’t want or cannot change or adapt their style, I think it’s always interesting to explore new tools and techniques to help you create works that resonates with you, all while keeping the constraints of your environment at the forefront. Following 'Tad Small', in the summer of 2023 I did quite a few mini-series using similar "simple/minimal/flat" approach, partly because the file size were small, but also because I simply had fun making these works (digitally hand drawn). Think of my series like 'Berlin', 'Polaroid', 'Mending Fragments' and many others. By being able to inscribe these works using new techniques, I was able to show the world that I'm here to create, experiment, improve and stick around - these works were crucial to me in understanding certain things in my general approach to creating on Bitcoin, as well as connecting with new collectors and supporters in the space at the time. While these works from summer 2023 may look drastically different than what I'm evolving into right now, which is heavily texturized, You can already see tiny glimpse of this vague idea that I have in mind with my 'Gentlemen' collection as early as March 2023. The stained-half-organic-half-digital-chic-trash vibe. The real me, somewhat punk, somewhat unpolished and raw, but always true. The issue was that works like 'Gentlemen', 'Lotus', and even some 1/1s from 'The Artifacts', were created using mix-media (AI and Krita) and such works tend to be heavy file size, often impossible to inscribe on Bitcoin unless compressed - and from the very start of my journey I always wanted the highest quality file to be the one on-chain, hence why I eventually decided to explore creating with code, using p5js. P5js allows for full-high-resolution artworks (press 'S' from the content link of the inscription) at a fraction of the size compared to plain JPG/PNG/WEBP file. You could say inscribing in HTML (p5js) is a cheat code on Bitcoin. But similarly, here again, at first I had to familiarize myself with this new tool and through hundreds and thousands of iterations I was slowly able to craft works that resonated with me. If at first I was exploring simple themes and ideas, mostly without explicit textures, little by little I started to figure things out. Things like how to craft textures to my taste following this vague idea in my mind, and just overall how to bring the works where I wanted it to be. Yet the best kept secret, for me, was always the HTML format allowing me to leave text notes at the top, just like the text you're reading now. Initially, I wasn't writing much but as time went by I started to value my writings more and more, until it gains the same importance as the visual, like I do now. These notes are opening so many doors creatively speaking by complementing my works and allowing me to explore & express things beyond what we see at first glance. Recently someone pointed out that one of my work felt like Egyptian hieroglyphs. What I find fascinating about this observation is how it aligns with my broader ideas. There are definitely hints of old cave pictographs and hieroglyphs in what I strive to create. Most of which can be seen in my latest works from "1/1s (2024) by Lemonhaze". I’ve always loved the analogy between these ancient pictorial elements and the act of inscribing my works on Bitcoin. Both hold the potential to survive the test of time, becoming modern-day relics, much like those ancient carvings etched in history. If most people right now can't see the work that I do, the little details in the textures and the text notes in the HTML - I have faith someday someone will. But rest assured that I know much more can be done, that's why my best work is always the next one and I keep walking with the Kaizen mindset. PART THREE (Personality): Need for security? I left the "security" of Canada (as an example) and my lifestyle is in fact, at the extreme opposite of seeking security. I'm a modern coureur de bois, all-in Bitcoin for many years already, freelancing, always on the move and taking the kind of risks most people would never dare taking - and I love it this way. My need for basic respect & acknowledgement is a very different thing though. Need for guidance? I'm the leader, I take my own decisions and do things MY WAY, at all time. I'm auto-didactic. Because after all, on n'est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même. Anyone who knows me in real life or been following me online, even just a little, can quickly see this. I'm definitely not the sheep in town, and if I am, well.. I'm the black one. But if anything, I take guidance from God. Self-doubt? Do not to confuse moments of vulnerability with self-doubt. I'm just a very raw and transparent person that doesn't mind sharing the real things when I feel it. But the real truth is, I believe nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is doing what I'm doing here right now, the way I do it. And I'm confident one day people are gonna look back on this and say "oh shit, we've been fvcking sleeping on Lemon." But saying this makes me sound pretentious and that's not my intention. I said it before, I'm delusional, I dream big and truly believe in my journey. Otherwise it wouldn't be so easy to just show up everyday and keep going, the way I do it. What else? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't selfish about certain things. I'm always head down working, never looking around me. Yet I'm expecting everyone around to care about my things. I'm merely pointing out that I don't give a fuck about what others do, So maybe that's why I think no one is looking at me. PART FOUR (Goals & Quotes): Loud when you're down Humble when you're up If you still don’t believe the chain is the ultimate gallery and exhibition, you’re in for a rude awakening when history cements its place in the digital renaissance. At some point, if it’s not on-chain, it will no longer exist, so keep fucking dreaming my friends. I started 2024 filled with hopes and dreams, and while a lot came true, some went short. But in the end I'm immensely grateful to everyone who made this journey possible over the year and more. My collectors and patrons, the builders on Bitcoin - everyone who believes in something more. I learned many lessons, realized there's a lot more work to do, and many things out of my control. And if at times last year I managed to disappoint myself with my own expectations, This year, there will be absolutely no fucks given - I'll be perfecting my own thing. Period. And if I ever get too close to the goals I've set for myself, I will push them further to avoid boredom, just like a rolling stone. All right, time to wrap this up with the most important things of all. I need to take better care of my health and continue my work of becoming a gentleman for My Love. But what I wish the most for this year is to finally become a father. At 34 years old, now is the time for me to have children, Otherwise, what I'm doing here will be irrelevant. May God allow me to inscribe my first real-life parent-child inscription in 2025. Bonne Année, Mercredi, 1er Janvier, 2025 - Saigon, Vietnam Happy New Year, Wednesday, January 1st, 2025 - Saigon, Vietnam -FNST