There has been some terrible news recently shared on dA about some of our favorite deviants.  First, we lost *kram666, Mark, a wonderful artist and photographer.  His fractal art was truly beautiful and Mark was very supportive to many other artists here.  He would never fail to leave a comment on my work and I'm sure this is true of the other artists here.  We also shared a love of bright colors and his work was often bright and colorful.  He died last month and the members of the dA fractal community, in particular, have been heartbroken to hear about his passing.  He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.  Godspeed, Mark, and may you rest in peace.

Here are some examples of his wonderful fractal art:



And his pics of his foxes, Roxy and Ronny:
Roxy


Ronny


Here's a picture of Mark's coffin posted by Mark's brother, Simon.  Simon is the person who informed the dA community of Mark's passing and posted the picture of his coffin along with a description of the ceremony.  I think Mark would have loved this final resting place.


Now for the second piece of bad news.  *FracFx's (TJ) entire house burned down last night. `SuicideBySafetyPin posted this in her journal:
I have just learned that *FracFx's house burned to the ground last night.......there was already a fund started here [link]
if there is any way you can help this amazing deviant it would be awesome! T J has lost most of his family over the last year and this is the final blow....
come on dA....let's pull together and make this deviant feel the dA love!!!!!!!!!
Please re-post this and let's see if we can make a difference in this man's life!!!!!!

TJ is a beloved member of the dA fractal community and it is very sad to hear of all the bad things that have befallen him of late (first his Dad died, then then sister, then his uncle, then his brother, one after the other and he lost his muse).  Please do what you can to support and help out TJ.  We wish him all the best in getting his life back in semblance of normal.  Good thoughts and prayers coming your way, TJ.  Stay strong, my friend.

Below are some examples of some of TJ's marvelous art.

Here are some Apos with params


Here are some others:


I certainly hope things get better for TJ soon and that he can once again find his muse.

I'd thought I would give a bit of an update on what's been happening in my life of late, most of it not too wonderful.  As a lot of you know, I have been having health issues, which are mostly resolved, but my hemoglobin is still a bit low, so my hemoglobin levels are being monitored on a monthly basis.  If it doesn't go up considerably on the next blood draw, in about a week, they want to scope me again.  I hope it goes up considerably.  I've had an upper GI, a colonoscopy, a camera enteroscopy, and a push enteroscopy in April and May.  I really don't want to have another one, thank you very much.

I was also pretty busy at work, being the Chairman of our annual Multicultural Festival at Alcorn University, held April 17.  I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, I had a lot of work to do for that and with my health problems cropping up at the same time, my stress level was really getting up there.  

Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of time to create art or get involved more in groups and leaving comments.  I have been looking through a bit, but not nearly what I would have liked.  I was hoping that after school let out (except for summer term, of course, but not nearly as busy), that I would have more time to jump back in, but it hasn't quite worked that way, though I have surfaced a bit more lately.

But, the latest thing is that my Mom, almost 89 years old, passed away on Saturday, June 30, 2012.  She was a wonderful woman and the light in my heart.  She had gone into hospital earlier in the week and just never really recovered.  She was living in Houston, since Hurricane Katrina, and I live in Natchez, MS, since Hurricane Katrina, about 300 miles away.  My husband and I drove to Houston after they moved her into hospice on Friday evening, but she died on Saturday about 2 hours before we got to Houston.  Chris and I are heartbroken we didn't get to see her one last time.  But, I will always have my Mom and Dad, who died in 1999, in my heart and now they are together again.  

I am doing OK, but I am still a little numb and not quite with it.  It's really hard to believe, but I will get there eventually.

Just wanted to let those who are wondering what's been going on.  Hope all are OK and I have been looking at some of your art.  Beautiful work is still being done!

Take care all.

I just realized that I haven't updated my journal since November 2011!  Well, hopefully, this will explain it a bit.

I know I am very guilty of being MIA of late.  So I am doing a journal to write up all that I've been through in the last couple of months.

First off, I was made Chairman of the Alcorn State University 2012 Multicultural Festival in early January 2012.  That was the beginning of life taking a turn for the hectic.  The Festival was scheduled for April 17.  So, at least I had a few months to get my act together.  I spent the next couple of months in meetings, planning, getting people on-board, making lots of music and multimedia videos and collecting recipes of each country represented here at Alcorn and anything else related to the Festival.  Plus, we decided to change the venue and the format somewhat from previous years, so we were in rather uncharted territory this year.  And then...

In the middle of March, I had an episode where I almost passed out (similar to 2 years ago when I was severely anemic, because of hemorrhagic gastritis, and needed a transfusion).  It took me about an hour to get my head back and then for the nest few days I wasn't really feeling like myself, very tired, weak, light-headed, stomach upset and just general feeling like crap.  Early the following week, I had to go to the ER with unstoppable nausea, stomach in an uproar and blood pressure 200/100 (that was the really scary part).  They did a CT scan of my gut and found indications of GERD, gastritis and diverticulosis (outpockets of the gut).  They gave me Phenergan for the nausea and some blood pressure meds at the ER and a script for Nexium and sent me home.  I still didn't feel quite right after that and my blood pressure plummeted to 85/40 and I felt really crummy and out of it for a couple of days.  I was trying to work at home of the multimedia files that I was doing for the Multicultural Festival and putting together the National Anthems for the flag parade and the music for the Fashion Show and other performances.  I also had a very bad neck at the time which made working on the desktop really painful, so my boss let me work at home on my laptop.  In other words, I was not a happy camper.  Then I developed severe constipation for almost two weeks which caused me to have to take Miralax, a laxative.  I drank it for four days before anything happened and when it finally did, I could barely be away from the bathroom.  Unfortunately on the day it started to work, I had a doctor's appointment to follow-up on the ER visit I had.  It was two weeks after the ER visit, but that was the first time the doctor could see me.  He drew some blood and went over the findings of the ER doctor and sent me on my way.  About 6:00 that evening, I got a phone call from the doctor saying the results of my blood test indicated that my hemoglobin was 6 (which means I had about half my blood volume) and that I needed to go immediately to the ER and tell them I needed a transfusion.  So, my husband drove me to the ER and we waited about 3 hours before we saw the doctor.  They did another CT scan because I was still having gut issues and checked me into the hospital.  I finally got a room at 11:30pm that night.  They gave me two units of blood that night and I was still having to go to the bathroom about every 15 minutes because of the Miralax and I spent the entire night getting up and rolling my IV pole to the john.  I was a total wreck and not too thrilled with the whole thing.  

The next day the doctor said he wanted me to have an upper and lower GI scope done the following day so they were going to keep me in the hospital overnight until they could do them.  Then that afternoon, the doctor who was going to do the scopes came in and said that he couldn't do the scopes the following day, he couldn't do them until the following week.  By that time, the hospital doctor who ordered the scopes had gone home, so there was no one who could discharge me.  So I spent the night in the hospital (my husband and my dog were not very happy with that) and the next day they drew blood to make sure I wasn't still losing any.  Once they confirmed I was holding steady, they discharged me.  This is now the beginning of April.    I had the upper GI the following Wednesday, (couldn't do the lower scope because I couldn't finish the flush you have to drink.  I threw up more of it than I got down).  The upper GI also found indications of gastritis, esophagitis, a hiatal hernia and two small angioectasias (weak blood vessels that have come to the surface) that were bleeding, so he cauterized them.  But, since they saw those in the upper part of the small intestine, he ordered a capsule endoscopy (I swallowed a small camera to take pictures of my gut).  The following day I had the colonoscopy (I had much better luck with the flush because I didn't try to slam-drink it in 2 hours and I mixed it with ginger ale rather than Gatorade).  The colonoscopy showed that I have severe diverticulosis (very deep pockets in my lower gut) and signs of chronic constipation (elongated and distended gut).  I was told that I must drink Miralax religiously for the rest of my life.  Because of the severity of the diverticulosis, constipation is a very big No-No because it could lead to inflammation and/or infection of the pockets, which could then bleed and or worse.  Also, the camera endoscopy showed many, many more angioectasias in my small intestine and a lot of them were actively bleeding.  Now, I am scheduled to have a push endoscopy tomorrow which is another upper GI endoscopy, but the scope is smaller around and longer so they can go deeper into the small intestine.  Then they will cauterize the bleeding vessels and, hopefully, I will done with all these procedures and get on with trying to recover my blood and get back to my normal life.

So, that's my situation.  The Multicultural Festival came off with minimal hiccups and I think overall it was successful.  I learned some things that we can apply to next year.  But, the stress, I'm sure, added to my GI problems and I'm delighted that it's over.

I have posted very few images in the last couple of months and I have not been very active.  I have uploaded a few things, but not the usual amount that I normally do.  And I am waaaaaay far behind on my comments and replies to comments.  But, sometimes, these things happen and there's not a lot you can do about it except forge ahead as best you know how.  

I hope everyone is doing OK and that you will forgive my prolonged absence from commenting, faving or other activities, like Fractal Circles or Challenges or any of the other fun things that pop up here.  I promise I will try to be more active in the future.

A huge thank you to those who have bought my work in the last few months!!!  Since October 2011, I've sold 6 prints on dA  (and on RedBubble, I've sold 3 posters and 6 Greeting Cards)!!  I still can't believe that people like my work enough to actually buy it!  That really makes me feel better about things.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

UPDATE 05-24-12  Hello everyone!  Let me first thank all those who left such wonderful comments with your concern and thoughts and prayers!  What a really nice feeling to get so much uplifting feedback on my health issues.  I apologize for not replying to each of you, but I will try to do that in the near future.  Just know that I really do appreciate you all very much!  

I thought you might like to hear the results of the last procedure I had done last week, the push endoscopy.  Other than me having to wait for 3 hours for the doctor to show up, it wasn't too bad.  But since I hadn't had anything to eat since 8:00pm and nothing to drink since midnight the night before, by 1:00pm in the afternoon, I was pretty hungry and my mouth felt like the Sahara Desert.  But, finally he made an appearance and we got underway.  After the procedure, he said that he only saw two small angioextasias and cauterized them.   They were not bleeding, but they were very deep.  I don't know what happened to all the ones they supposedly saw on the capsule endoscopy I had.  Perhaps the medication and having a lot less stress cleared them up.  But, I will still have to have my blood levels monitored over the next few months to be sure they don't pop back up and start bleeding again.  It's insidious, because I am not aware that I am losing blood.  There are no obvious outward symptoms, other than I feel a little weak and light-headed sometimes.  But, I will continue to take my medication like a good little girl and try not to do anything that might cause this to happen again.  I don't want another transfusion.  Too many transfusions are not a good thing and if I were ever to need an organ transplant, the fact that I've now had two transfusions could cause me to make antibodies to the HLA antigens present in the blood I was transfused with and that could cut down on the number of donors that I could accept an organ from.  I know that sounds a little far-fetched, but having done matching for organ transplant in an HLA lab for 9 years, I know how difficult it can be to find a match and it can be very hard waiting on the transplant list, hoping and praying that they can find a match before you die of organ failure.  Not a pleasant prospect.

But, I am feeling pretty good and like my old self again (emphasis on "old").  And, I'm sure all the good thoughts and prayers I have received from you, my dA friends, probably helped get me there.  So, big hugs and thanks to you all who were there to cheer me on and wish me well.  I love you guys!

Well, another Halloween has come and gone and one of the things I look forward to the most at Halloween, 's annual Halloween and Samhain Contest is over and the winners determined.  Here is a feature of the winners from each category.  Take a look at these boo-tiful Halloween images and go by and congratulate the artists on their great work and their wins!  And, yes, I was so lucky to have placed 2nd in the Fractal Art Category!  I was so thrilled!!  Thank you, Dee, for holding your contest again!  It's one I look forward to every year!

Digital Art Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
by

3rd Place
by

Honorable Mention
by


Traditional Art Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
by

3rd Place
by

Honorable Mention
by


Photography Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
by

3rd Place
by

Honorable Mention
:thumb266152628: by



Fractal Art Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
by

3rd place
by

Honorable Mention
by


Literature Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
Allhallows'Chant the silver clouds
Across the misty moon
Sing the wind into the trees
And dance across the sky
Stir your cauldron, shine your broom
Pluck the moonglow herbs and meet your sisters
Through dream unto the stars we fly.

Run and hide as well you can
You'll not want to stay here long
By the time they miss you there
You will surely be long gone.

Grab your witch-hat, grab your broom
Call your cat and chase the moon
Dancing far across the sea
Round and round, and home with thee!

Tricksy folk will walk tonight
Putting all offset its right
The candle flame you've set alight
Shan't keep them off your door outright

O this night, by

3rd Place
Moonlight SerenadePain erupts around the swollen womb

As the cycle of day turns to night,

Full moon starring the Night Sky Feature.

Unwanted muse to peel away

Layers of saturated flesh,

Blood pooled around where the body lay twisted.

A cry pierces the night sky

Splitting the clouds like lightning,

Settling down like ashes that taste of leaves.

Thunderous echoes follow after

While fear spreads below,

Tremors threaten the threshold and force the break.

Alone, the babe with Canine eyes,

Steps forward from the grave

His mother a sordid, fragile thing where warmth lingers.

Into the night stumbling forward

Clutching an imaginary heart,

He pretends t by

Honorable Mention
Seconds to the Last MidnightOne chime of the wooden clock.
Two pairs of running feet.
Three presences in the room...

There in the shadows it lay hidden.
The little boys' hearts she could but listen.
She who was murdered bloody and young.
Would seek revenge to which she clung.

Four fists hammering the locked door.
Five inches floating above the floor.
Six shallow rasps of breath.

Tender movement across the space.
Wicked smile spread upon her face.
She hovered closer to the little boys.
Tiny things that were made her toys.

Seven...
Eight...
Nine...

She was killed too early in life.
By the serrated slice of her father's knife.
Never leaving as the years by


Artisan Crafts Category
1st Place
by

2nd Place
by

3rd Place
by

Honorable Mention
by

This is just a short journal to pass on some sad news.  I'm pretty sure most of the fractal community know or is familiar with (Kathleen Emerson).  On Oct 25, 2011, her husband, Chris, passed away.  This was just 2 days before Kathleen's birthday.  My heart goes out to her and her family at this time of incredible loss.  Please keep Kathleen and her family in your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult of times.  RIP, Chris, and Godspeed.

There is a lot of Kathleen in her fractals and photography.  Here are some examples.  As you look on her beautiful work, please keep her and her family in your hearts and minds.  

I would like to alert all you fractalists out there that there is an awesome Halloween and Samhain Contest being held again this year by
  

Here is the link to the journal article and the rules for the contest.  [link]

There are several categories, one of which is for Fractals and the prizes are pretty good, including subs and points.  I plan to do a feature on the winners as well.

There is still time to enter.  The deadline for entries in Nov 3, 2011.  So, hop to it and go create a boo-tiful Halloween fractal and enter it into the contest!  You can enter up to 2 in each category.  

Here are the links to the entries so far.  As you can see, there's plenty of room for more!

Digital: [link]
Traditional: [link]
Photography: [link]
Fractal: [link]
Literature [link]
Artisan Crafts [link]

For those of you who aren't familiar with Samhain (and I wasn't), here is what Wikipedia says about it:

Samhain was a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularized as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following John Rhys and James Frazer. The date of Samhain was associated with the Catholic All Saints' Day (and later All Souls' Day) from at least the 8th century, and both the secular Gaelic and the Catholic liturgical festival have influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween.

The medieval Goidelic festival of Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was celebrated over the course of several days and had some elements of a Festival of the Dead. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

Here's the link to the full article:  [link]

It's nice to learn something new, isn't it?  Now that you've learned something new, go create and enter a Halloween fractal to celebrate!

Today's Inspiration Station features a wonderful fractal artist. , who excels in Apo and UF and creates amazingly gorgeous pieces, most of which are life-like and all of which are eye-catching!  She has a gallery full of wonder!  Please go by and check it out.  It's a treat to behold and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!!

Here are just some examples of her outstanding work!

Today's Inspiration Station honors another wonderful friend of the fractal community: ~dark-beam.  He's a whiz at Mandelbulb!  Check out his gallery and see for yourself.  He also shares his params, which is a wonderful thing!  Thank you so much, Luca, for all you do for the fractal artists here on dA.  We really appreciate you and your art!






And a Mandelbulb 3D Barnsley tutorial!:

Today's Inspiration Station artist is *Aexion! :   

He is the developer of Incendia, a marvelous 3D fractal art program  The images it creates are stunning and a wonder to gaze on.  Those of you who use Incendia owe a large dept of thanks to for developing the program and making it available free to users who want to explore the worlds of 3D fractals.  His gallery is full of wondrous Incendia images and it would be well worth your time to go by and take a look.  Perhaps, you will be inspired to try your hand at Incendia.  If so, here's the link to the download: [link] it a whirl!  I plan on trying out some of tutorials for it.  You can find them here: [link] and there's a real good LTS chat log put up by . [link]


Anyway, here are some examples of *Aexion's work.  I'm sure will be as impressed with it as I was.

We have a new Inspiration Station happening today.  Today's honoree is ~s31415, aka Samuel Monnier.   Even if you don't think you know him, if you use UltraFractal, I'll bet you know who he is and just don't realize it.  He is the "sam" that you see in the formulas, mapping transforms, and coloring files, ie sam.ufm, sam,uxf, sam,ucl.  Sam has contributed a great deal to the furtherance of fractal art and I find his formulas some of the neatest ones for UF.  I use them a lot.  Please go check out his awesome gallery and send him a little note to thank him for all he has given to the fractal community.  

Here are just a few examples of his UF work, going from back to front in his gallery

I'd like to do a feature on someone who has contributed so much to the fractal community, not only with her art, but through her help in and now as her recent role as Community Volunteer and starting the Fractal Flash Mob.  Light, this feature's for you!  You may know her better as `SuicideBySafetyPin, but her name is Light and it certainly suits her, since she not only brightens up the dA Fractal Gallery with her fabulous art, but she also helps shine light on the creation of fractals, through her tips, params, and comments on others' work.

I would like to show you a sample of her incredible work.  Please go look through her awesome gallery for even more beautiful art!








Light has such a wonderful sense of color and design.  I could spend all day in her gallery.  I also have a very soft spot for Light as she shared the params that were the first I tweaked several times and made a collage of the different results.  You can see them here if you're interested, and Light's original is the first one on the top row:


Here is Light's original.  She has also given me permission to post her params (which I found in the flame of all the tweaks I did) in the description under the collage (thumb above).


Maybe some of you would like to tweak a Light original.

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Favorites contributed by others:

From ~Lillyanna


From ~Gerda1946


From *HalTenny


From =coby01


From *Ace60


From =Lupsiberg





From ~pinkal09


From =GypsyH


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Add yours here by commenting with a link to one of your favorites by `SuicideBySafetyPin  I'm sure we can fill this up with awesomeness!

Thank you, Light, for all you do for the fractalists here on dA.  You're the best!

I know a lot of you have your favorites by Light and please, post a link to one of your favorites in a comment to this journal and I will add it.  Let's make this page Light up!

I have to say a huge thanks to whoever bought a 20"x30" canvas print of Feathery Spiral today!  I am blown away and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that someone liked my work enough to buy a large print!



I wish dA would give the name of the person who buys a print, unless the person specifically requests to remain anonymous.  I would like to thank anyone who purchases a print of my work personally.  It means a lot to me and it would make me so happy to be able to say "Thank You" to each person individually.

But, regardless, I would like to thank whoever bought this from the bottom of my heart

Today is another Inspiration Station which features some of the premier fractal artists here on dA.  The subject of this week's Inspiration Station is the multi-talented !  Peter has done some amazing fractal art and he has contributed to the resources of the fractal community with plug-ins he's written for one of my favorite fractal programs, Apophysis.  Peter, thank you for all you do for the community and for your beautiful and inspiring art!  Here's just a small sample of some of Peter's work.






And some Apophysis plug-ins:




Go by and check out the rest of his gallery.  [link] won't be disappointed.

Today is a special day for one of the best friends in the fractaling community: !  Georg, aka Xyrus02, has provided the fractaling community with an incredible program, Apophysis 7X* with new great features, like thumbnail previews, and has written a boat-load of plug-ins for it as well.  He's a regular on the wonderful ~Aposhack and his art is superlative and an inspiration to anyone who loves fractals and creating them.  So, Georg, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the many, many, many, many hours of enjoyment and wonder you have provided to me, not to mention the rest of the fractal artists here on dA and around the world!  It's become a catch phrase, but I'll say it here: Xyrus ROCKS!!

Here's just a small sampling of his art:









Although I think of Apo when I think of Xyrus, he also uses other fractal programs, like Mandelbulb 3D to create his magic:




For those of you looking for some new plugins for Apophysis (7X ver 14 or higher), here are some to try out:



* For those of you not familiar with the history of the Apophysis flame generating program, here is a little history on it's development and updated versions.

Scott Draves invented Fractal Flames and published an open source implementation written in C in the early 90s. In 2001, Ronald Hordijk translated his code into Delphi and created a non-animated screensaver. And in 2003 or 2004, Mark Townsend took Ronald's code and added a graphical user interface to create Apophysis[1]. It has since been improved and updated by Peter Sdobnov, Piotr Borys, and Ronald Hordijk.  And most recently, by Xyrus02 (Georg), who really kicked it up a notch!  It's a great program and huge thanks go out to all these people who have kept Apophysis in the forefront of fractal software that the community just adores!

Has anyone else noticed that the thumb code box is missing on deviations?  For the last couple of days, I seemed to have lost the thumbnail code box so I'm not able to put thumbs in my descriptions or journals or anywhere else a thumb can be pasted.  I've tried it in both Firefox and Internet Explorer and they both do the same thing.

Is anyone else having this problem?  If so, have you asked the dA Help Desk about it?  I have a request in to them, so I'll see what they say.  If you had the problem, but solved it, what did you do to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any feedback or suggestions.

Thanks to for providing the answer!  They are hidden now and to find them, click the little arrow next to those Share Buttons on the right side of the page.  The thumb code box will drop down.

Thank you, Roz!

Be one of the first 18 people commenting on this journal entry, and I will add you to the Featured List!

For each of the first 18 people commenting on this journal I will feature his/her avatar and the three deviations I like most from his/her gallery in my Journal. PLEASE TELL ME WHICH DEVIATIONS YOU WANT TO INCLUDE maybe I don't have the time to dig in your gallery

IMPORTANT: If you answer, you have to do the same in your journal, putting me on the first place, completing the list with 18 people in total.

The idea of this is not to get a free feature, it is to spread art around for everyone. I will check whether or not you have done this.

WARNING: You must have a premium membership in order to post thumbs of pictures in your journal!

This is an idea going around right now that sounds like a good idea.  It's always nice to share art and give more exposure to artists' work.  I am happy to be a part of that.

I got this journal info from =jim373 and since I commented on his journal, he's the first feature.  I love Jim's work so much!  We have been part of the same UF Circle over in and it's always a treat to see what he's come up with!

1.    

2.  

3.  

4.  
  Even though the artist above doesn't have a Premium membership and can't post thumbs on her journal, her work is worth featuring so I have included it.

5.  

6.  

7.  

8.  

9.   :thumb206706109: :thumb187615966: :thumb172127100:

10.    

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13.   

14.

15.

16.  

17.

18.



So, everyone, come join in.  Just leave a comment to this journal and leave the links of those images you'd like to feature.  If you want me to pick myself, let me know.
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Also, I want to thank for the 3 month premium subscription.  And though I did not update my last journal article, Mary is a mystery person no longer.  Thank you so much, Mary!  I really appreciate your kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity.  You are too sweet!  And for that, you get a feature, too.  I'll be more than happy to spread your art around.

  

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There's also the High Hopes for Japan UF Challenge being held by *heavenriver  There is another couple of days before the entries close.  Here's what it says in the News article about it.

As everyone knows, sadly, an almost catastrophic earthquake took place in Japan. Not only the number of casualties is very high; the nuclear problem added to it all. The land of the rising sun is going through awful times.
What can we do about it? Well, first off, dedicate a challenge to this wonderful country! This month you'll have to create a Japan-themed fractal. How you interpret the task is entirely up to you, but make sure that you do make it possible for everyone to understand at first sight how your fractal relates to Japan. This is very important. Conceptual ties are okay, but you must also include a visual resemblance with the Japanese land, culture, history or whatever in your fractal.

...Up to now, nothing really special, right? Here's where the real fun comes: for each fractal entered in the challenge, =snow-valkyrie and her family have offered to donate $5 to the American Red Cross. Which means: whether you win the challenge or not, Japan wins money thanks to YOU!
One additional rule has been requested for insertion in this challenge - that you add the link to the American Red Cross website to your deviation's description, for the deviation you want to enter the challenge with. So, we'll all help spread the word and raise funds for Japan. Let's keep our hopes high for it, shall we?

Here are some of the entries for it.  The first one is mine.

:thumb204829989:


If you use UF, please consider making something for this High Hopes for Japan Challenge.  It is certainly a worthy cause and every entry helps send more money for Japan relief and recovery.  Thank you!

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More journals to come.  Now that our Multicultural Festival is over, I hope to have more time to spend here on dA and catch up on my comments and my journal.

I just had to post a quick journal to thank whomever gave me a 3 month Premium subscription to dA!!!  I am so thrilled and I can't even say it directly to that wonderful person because I don't know who it is.  So, to the kind, generous and sweet soul who gave me a 3 month premium sub, I give you a huge THANK YOU!!!!  I really appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness for this gift and if I could give you a hug, I would!

I know I am waaaaay behind on my journal.  I need to do features on the FE Weekly Challenge winners from the last like 8 weeks!  And other things, too.  I am finally learning Mandelbulb 3D, slowly and with a lot of "What the hell is that?" type moments, but practice makes perfect.  I'd like to thank and for doing tuts on Mandelbulb 3D that are helping tremendously.  Just finding your way around in the program can be rather overwhelming, so their information and tips were invaluable to me.

I promise to do a big journal soon with Features and other stuff, but right now I must get home.  It's Friday!!!  YAY!!!

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's wishing everyone on dA a very safe, peaceful, happy and prosperous 2011!  It has to be better than 2010.  At least I hope it is.

I have fallen a little behind on my features for the winners of the FE Weekly Challenges being held in the group.  I featured the winner of the FE Weekly Challenge 1, but there are now winners of FE Weekly Challenge 2 and 3.  Voting for FE Weekly Challenge 4 is going on now, so if you want to vote, here's the link to the images: [link]

I'm featuring FE Weekly Challenge 2 and 3 winners today.  I apologize for the delay in these, but the holidays were hectic and I didn't get online as much as I had hoped.  Anyway, on to the winners!

Winner of FE Weekly Challenge 2 was:
by

Some other fractals from his gallery:




The Winner of FE Weekly Challenge 3 was:
by

A few selections from her fabulous gallery:




Please stop by and check out the entries for FE Weekly Challenge 4 using the link above.  If you are a member or a watcher of , then you can vote by noting the thumb of your pick to .

These challenges are a lot of fun and they can teach you a lot about Fractal Explorer.  So, if you have ever had a hankering to try it, but haven't gotten around to it, now might be the time to give FE a try!

Hello again, all.  This time I managed to update my journal before it was too out of date.

As promised, I am featuring the winners of Winter Contest.

The 1st place winner was with this wonderful entry:


More art from his gallery:
:thumb97460412:


The 2nd place winner was with this beauty:


Some more wonderful images from her gallery:



The 3rd place winner was with this wintry wonder:


Some selections from her gallery:



And honorable mention was won by with this marvelous photo:


More gorgeous work from Anita's gallery:




Congratulations to all the winners! Really beautiful winter work!

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FE Weekly #1 - Spiral Winner

The first Fractal Explorer Weekly Challenge ended up in a tie between:
with this stunning spiral:


Other gorgeous art from her Gallery:



And with this lovely entry:


More examples from his gallery:




Congratulations to you both for your win!


Please go check out the entries for FE Weekly Challenge #2 - Talis in this News article by and go see the theme and rules for FE Weekly Challenge #3 at .  Join in on the fun and learn more about this wonderful under-appreciated little program.  You might really enjoy it!

Also, for those of you who know , you might want to check on her latest journal. [link] and her sister have lost the last round in court to keep the kids with Jess and away from their sex offender Dad.  I don't know what the courts are thinking, but Light and her sister could really use your help.  There's a donation pool set up to help them afford to pay their attorney so that they may file an appeal to this latest court ruling.  The link is in her journal article.  Please help in any way, if you can.

Well, I must post this so I can stay current.  Take care and talk to you soon.

And, leaving this in from my last journal entry, here's wishing you all a prosperous and Happy New Year!






And a Happy New Year, too!

Hello everyone!  I hope this finds you all doing well and looking forward to the holiday season.  I apologize to taking so long to update my journal.  I apologize to for leaving the "Blue" Contest up so long.  That was quite rude of me.  It's been over for quite sometime, and congratulations go out to the winner, with this beauty:


Second place winner was with this wonderful entry:


And third place was won by with this lovely piece:


Congratulations to all the winners and thanks so much to everyone who entered.  The more, the merrier!

I hope to make up for my tardiness by reminding everyone of 's latest Contest, The Winter Contest.  Entries close on Dec 15, 2010 so don't wait.  Get your entry in now!!

UPDATE:  The Winter Contest at is now CLOSED.  Please do not submit any more entries.  The contest is being judged now.  I will announce the results and feature the winners when it is completed.



Other news, I'd like to thank all my dA friends who so kindly wished me a Happy Birthday and a special thank you to those who made beautiful gifts for me.  Two people, and   I was so touched and thrilled to receive such lovely gifts.  I will add them to my profile page as a permanent feature of your work and as a testament of my appreciation for the wonderful gift.

Wouldn't you be thrilled to get such gifts?

From


And from


Thank you both so much for these wonderful birthday presents!   




OK, also...I got another DD!!!!

Thanks so much to for choosing "UF and Apo Christmas" for a DD on December 1, 2010!!  I was so thrilled and honored!  I am so lucky to get a 2nd one!  Thank you so much, Natalie, for choosing this for a DD. You gave me a wonderful early birthday gift!




Also, I've been standing in a bit in the group while took a small break.  I didn't do a lot, but now I would like to feature a few of the fabulous images that are in this group.  Some of them will absolutely stun you!!





Now, an animated one by that will definitely enchant and amaze you:


And for those of you who wish to learn how to make this type of beautiful fractal, here is a wonderful tutorial done by .  Thanks so much for sharing this with us!


These are just a very small sample of the beauty that awaits in the Gallery.  Do yourself a favor and take a travel through this magical, mystical and magnificent world of 3D Mandelbulbs.  Will the wonders of fractals never cease.  Once again, I have to tip my hat to Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot, may he rest in peace, for giving us the tools to create this amazing art.




Well, I could go on, but I really need to get this new journal entry up.  So I may update later, if I get some time.  I have a lot of other things to say, regarding the sudden untimely passing of (Gosh, Helena, it's hard to believe you're gone, Godspeed and may you rest in peace), some of the Challenges and Contests for fractal artists going on right now and other bits and pieces. But, anyway, please have yourselves a wonderful, peaceful, festive, safe Holiday Season, regardless of how you celebrate it!  Here's wishing you all a prosperous and Happy New Year!

I should really do a feature of some of the marvelous Christmas and Holiday fractals being posted.  Great stuff!  In the meantime, here's some of my Christmas and New Years fractals as a Christmas Card to everyone.  I hope you enjoy!!





And a Happy New Year, too!


Well, that's it for now.  I'm posting it right now!