For me, art is a voyage of discovery. I am as surprised by the art I create as anyone else who views it. Though I constantly strive to improve my skills, I am much more interested in creating something new (and hopefully beautiful) under the sun than in craftsmanship. I feel that photography has superseded other forms of art when it comes to reproducing the external world -it is the interior landscape that I strive to explore and reveal.
BIO
Born in Paris, France in 1950. Moved to New York when I was 5 years old. From an early age, developed an (unhealthy? obsessive?) interest in fantasy, science fiction, surrealism and anything that was beautiful and mysterious. My parents called me "Jean de la Lune" because I was often distracted by things that they couldn't understand. Also had an aptitude for drawing from an early age, but never really pursued it seriously back then. Went away to college in 1967, at the time that the psychedelic zeitgeist was reaching critical mass & got swept up in the maelstrom. Ego disintegrated & a new one rose like a phoenix from the ashes. Began drawing & painting in a stream-of-consciousness mode, bypassing the rational mind. Fell in love, moved to Berkeley, California, and had a son. Took art classes (illustration, figure drawing, portraiture, color theory, etc.). In the late 70's, began playing with computers. Learned to program & wrote simple applications for generating visual patterns. Having no real aptitude for marketing my artwork, I instead embarked on a career in information technology, which lasted 22 years, at which time I quit (in May of 2003). My current incarnation as a digital artist began with the first release of Fractal Design Painter. I experienced a breakthrough with the first release of Bryce, which was the medium that enabled me to finally satisfy my creative impulses. I use many other supporting pieces of software (Amorphium, Poser, & several others), but they only provide me with input for Bryce. All of my images are rendered only in Bryce, with no post-processing at all. Each of them starts with a bare-bones idea or model or texture which I then attempt to allow to evolve in whatever direction "it" decides & which I have never been able to predict. I obsessively tweak shapes, colors, textures, & visual relationships until the image seems "right". If the final result is somewhat disturbing and disorienting, yet at the same time beautiful, then I have succeeded...
Comments (7)
nongo
Coprinus comatus or Shaggy Mane, An edible choice, but must be cooked quickly before the caps turn to ink, or so I'm told... I have these all around in my yard! I've yet to try them, I guess I need a real expert to give me the go ahead!!! LOL!!!
mbz2662
Yeah, I know someone who had a book on identifying mushrooms. He picked some out of the yard and added them to his spaghetti sauce... He ended up getting his stomach pumped, and having charcoal for dessert. It's funny afterwards and he has survived. His daughter and I even had an on-going joke about ... You might be a Red Neck if... and even had a little song "I am Mushroom Man"... sorry for the ramble. Just brought back memories. This is a great photo and this mushroom kinda looks like a ladies old fashioned skirt.
42n8
What a beautiful mushroom, wonderful post work excellent shot.
Leeco
I have not seen any that looked anything like this. Very interesting though. I, like you, have no faith in my identification of mushrooms and only eat what comes from the store, lol. Nice capture. Thanks for sharing. Lee
TwoPynts
Oooo, much more interesting than 95% of the shroom I find around here. Thanks for sharing!
amota99517
What a fascinating mushroom. Great shot and capture.
FranOnTheEdge
Looks like a young Shaggy Ink Cap to me, (Coprinus comatus) and if that's what it is, then it's edible. You need to photograph it later in its life though to be more certain and one of the reasons for it's name is that eventually it deliqueses into a dark inky substance. If you do a google image search with "Shaggy Ink Cap" in the 'entire phrase' box then loads of pics just like yours comes up, including here: http://rawgreens.co.uk/mushrooms/179-shaggy-ink-cap-mushroom-extract.html ...where there is a recipe for ketchup made from this mushroom.