I agree to most of what have been said here .. and find the discussion very interesting. I have not been doing fractals a whole year yet .. only almost. But I have been doing "normal" art since I was a little kid. After I started doing fractals .. I have often been met with questions like : Why are you doing fractals when you are so good at "real art"? At first I got a bit offended - but then thought - they think fractals are some you just "pick up" - sign and frame - upload and thats it ! There is no easy way to make art .. of any form. And I find you are spending just as much time creating a good satisfying fractal picture as you do making a normal art-painting. All this said - I can tell you what fractals have done for me. I had to give this a lot of thoughts - because of that "evil" question popping up again and again --- why am I doing fractals? .. What makes a fractal good and outstanding? What is the essence of it? You can agree or disagree .. and I might be wrong .. but I have cut it down to it being : colors - highlights/shadow - composition. So after creating fractals for a couple of months I suddenly saw that my "real art" had changed !! .. I had enhanced my skills in doing more work on the coloring .. the highlights and shadows .. my compositions! My "normal" works had improved .. and improved A LOT !! It was not just me seeing that .. many told me so too - and it was not even me bringing up the subject at all. So now I have a good reply to why I am doing fractals ! In a way you can say that fractals are art boiled down to the edge of what art is ..hmm sounds maybe weird .. dont know if I can explain this right LOL ... But the artist that I went to when I was a young artist to-be told me back then : All art is just light and shadow. So I see the fractals as something where you are FORCED to do the right thing .. because if you do not .. then it is just an awful mishmash - you never would upload. So when I go and make my normal art it still sits in me .. doing more about the highlights and the shadows. Making them live in harmony or in fights what ever fits that peticular painting. Apart from fractals giving me something to my other artforms .. I do love and care for them - love making them - and I know I will never stop doing them. And to the statement that there are only so and so many different flames ..or spirals ... I do not believe that .. I dont think there are 2 that ever are the same ! Hugss zoozee :)