Mini Vacation

I just finished working six 9-hour days, and yesterday would have made 7 days. I opted to take one day of leave and tack it onto my regularly scheduled 4 days off...so, five days off will do the trick I think! Not doing much during this mini vacation...although I would love to head to Portland for a day, gas prices won't let me do it for now. I may try in a few months. So just sticking close to home, running errands and doing house chores...how fun.

been busy

Work has been sort of getting in the way of my off time, so I haven't made very many new fractals. Taking projects home to work on was bad enough, but now my most favorite OPL is leaving at the end of April. :o( I've worked for/with Jim ever since I got here, 12 years! He has always been a fountain of knowledge, a great manager, and a friend. Mixed emotions here, as I am so happy for him and Lisa...they'll be going to the east coast close to family, and he's getting a promotion out of this! But at the same time, it's going to tough to get used to him not being there. Needless to say, we are scrambling to get whatever he can pass to us (info-wise) before he leaves. He tells me I should bid on his position. :o dunno.

Anyhoo, here is another flame fractal
(btw there are more in my Picasa albums) ...

It's a new year

As I look back on 2007, it all seems to be a blur already. Not sure if it is because I'm getting old(er) or perhaps I'm just focusing on what's ahead. Here's to the possibilities and probabilities that may, and will, unfold in the bright days ahead. :o)

A new flame fractal...somewhat fitting for the new year. Dreamcatcher.

Busy Time

Haven't posted in a while...and haven't been doing fractals in a while either. Just been busy with work, travel, and now all the frenzy normally associated with the holidays.

Simple flame fractal, containing mostly linear variation transforms.

Strands

More catching up, as work gets in the way. Going on a day-trip in a couple of days...taking my friend Patty to Portland for a trip to our favorite asian grocery "superstore", Uwajimaya...then to a nearby Trader Joe's! Shopping bliss here we come!

Classic Spiral

I've always had an affinity for the classic spiral fractal, and flame spirals are no exception. I find them to be light, refreshing, and comforting. This flame was the result of some transform and gradient tweaking from Liz's Perfect Spiral script.

Gimp Import

Another flame created in Gimp, thanks to Scott Drave's plug-in and Mark Townsend's import feature.

Another one

Using a script which combines mods from several fractal artists, and tweaking it a bit.

Scripting

Scripts are fun to use, as long as it's done in moderation. I have yet to learn to create scripts. For now, I rely on those that have grasped the fundamentals of script-writing. I just got this one from Liz's site (thank you!) and I'm liking it already. :)

The Gimp

The Gimp has a plug-in that generates flame fractals. This plug-in was written by Scott Draves, although I don't think it's been updated in a long time. The flame "editor" is somewhat limited, but it's best to use Apophysis to import the Gimp flame, and make edits there.

err...let's try this again

Nothing like experimenting with a new blog...then forgetting about it. I suppose I wasn't in the right mindset when I started this...but, now that I've rescued this from the depths of Blogger, I'll try to be better. I promise. I hope.

My life isn't exciting or interesting enough to warrant filling these pages with readable material, at least nothing fit for the average joe's consumption. However, fractals have always been one of my favorite forms of expression. Each one is different, unique unto itself, like fragments of thoughts and ideas. Fractals appear in many forms in our daily lives, and in nature itself. They are classified by various types such as Mandelbrot, Julia, and Iterated Function System (IFS).

I find flames, and their creation, to be unpredictable, but in a pleasant way. Math has never been my forte, however working with the program Apophysis helps me to appreciate its capabilities. There seems to be an almost therapeutic value to flame creation...a Zen of mathematics, art, and nature. Anyone can do it, given the proper tools and an open mind. It is, after all, what you make of it.