Well said, Panny and also Simon. I agree that we should all take a lot more pride in the contents of our art galleries and try to only post our best efforts. It's why I post so infrequently. Most of what I make my dog doesn't even think is very good - lol - and I wouldn't want included in a gallery of images that I might want to show to friends or coworkers. A "masterrpiece" surrounded by dozens of not so good images loses it's luster because the other images set a prevalent tone. A lot like having a really nice house in the middle of a crack neighborhood or something. The run-down houses drag down your property value and people might turn around and leave before they get to your house/great image. Not everything that's in my gallery is something I think a whole lot of now but when I posted them I felt that they were truly "finished" and I'd taken care of every detail I could think of. Or they stay to show change over time in the styles - or I'm just sentimental about some of them :-?). Some have taken over a week to "perfect"(I know - poor word choice but it's bedtime...) and one took a month. Many will sit on my monitors at work for a week just to see if I still like them b4 I upload them. I doubt even VanGogh could post a masterpiece a day, 365 days a year. I think we forget that most of us don't contribute monitarily to this site and that it isn't cheap for Bondware to provide this wonderful service to us all. No - I don't work for them - lol. I seriously can't figure what their angle is business-wise to even do this. Unless they do well with the merchant thingie. Anyhow, I do agree with them about having pride in our galleries. By posting everything one makes every day, habits get formed due to the ceaseless repetition of the same techniques and that could hamper one's growth. I'm assuming we all want to be as good at this stuff as we can be, no? I get into ruts a lot myself with all the images with spheres and I've posted images b4 simply because "it was time" that were really not very good that I deleted. Except the one with my favorite "poopie" comment under it - lol. I hate that pic but keep it just for the great comment my uncle made. :-?) I agree with Panny about the thumbnails that are better compositions ("IMHO" - I'm am allowed to have an opinion, I hope) than the full sized images and all the negative space. I'm sometimes let down after clicking an awesome thumbnail. Lisa - I like your attitude. You sound like someone who is really interested in doing your best and I'm sure you will do great things with fractals. Anyhow, think of it like this: if we all were more selective and picky about our galleries, there'd be fewer new posts to look at each day, commenting would take less time and we'd have more time for the REALLY important stuff - making new fractals and flames! Stephi - you're right on about what it takes to be a "WORKing artist". You have to be a good salesperson and have a sense of how to run a business. It's work, for sure and probably something many are not cut out for - I doubt that I am. I haven't experienced any "pain" in marketing my stuff because I've not figured out the best way to even start yet. I did one art show that really wasn't an art show. It was a science fiction convention. My only painful bit is how to come up with the $$ and time off of work to go to big shows. But as I gain seniority at my new job, I'll have a lot more vacation time saved up if I do that. And I'm in the dark as much as Tim about what's up between you and Keith as well. I gather from Keith's message above that you and he had words on the UF list? I must have missed that - maybe one of the "re: blah blah" ones that I always delete? Or maybe it's not something you guys want aired publicly here? Just curious - it's been a while since I've had the vicarious thrill of eavesdropping on one of the bi-annual JB vs whomever blowups that drove me off 3 years ago when I'd first signed up... lol j/k Rick