Hiboux: One of my four rescued friends
"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. Â What one fears one destroys."
--Chief Dan George (1899 - 1981)
The avatar I use is a photo of a kitten who adopted me last fall. She came to my door one night, hungry and cold and in need of shelter. I had already adopted a rescued dog and 2 fostered cats (I have a friend who works in animal rescue), but another friend told me that being chosen by a cat was a special thing, so, here she is in her new home. I called her Hiboux (French for owl for those who don't already know), since she reminded me of a snowy owl tapping on my door.
Sorry I need a new digital camera. The one used for this photo was one of the first ones ever made that utilizes a floppy disc. I am attached to it, but thought it was more important to show off my kitty here since this is merely my "home" page and not a display of my digital art. I'll update it as soon as I can.
I live in the US Midwest, have a degree in landscape design, compete nationally (only in the US so far)Â in dancesport, and choreographed contemporary dance for over a decade. I've been writing since childhood--mainly for my own amusement. A few of my poems have been published in obscure places and I used to write many interviews which were published online for years. None of my novels have met the public eye yet and that's OK because for me "the joy is in the journey." Â
I'm hooked on creating digital art. I stumbled upon it when I worked online for 11 years as a content editor and became intrigued watching the medium grow. 3D art feels like a good niche for me combining movement, landscape, my love of nature, history, art, technology, myth and storytelling . . .  I love to experiment with software and hope to continue to grow as an artist. I'm in awe of many of the beautiful works shared on this site. I've also begun a blog here called "A Novelist's Adventures in Digital Art" where I list useful sites and tools I find along the way:
My Blog
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I consider myself a beginner at digital art. We all have to start somewhere. I try to encourage other creatives on all skill levels as often as I have time. I learn a lot from the artists I favorite here and even from private emails with tips if you feel so inclined. I dont allow ratings in my gallery anymore, because I don't believe in "grading" art--it doesn't fit into my personal philosophy. That said, I do often admire many of the talented professional artists and am happy when they are showcased on the art charts here and feel the rating system--though it has flaws--is important to honor excellence.  I do appreciate any comments and appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions.
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"Every artist was first an amateur."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Thank you for visiting my gallery!
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Comments (33)
ragouc
Very good character and outfit.
anahata.c
(This is a long comment, lol. You might wanna bring a lunch...) Cathy, this is a marvelous design. It's a portrait too, and a historical piece, but it has such a design sense, it's the first thing I see. And it has the ceremonious feel of a print too. First your palette is wonderfully autumnal, lots of autumnal browns & light golds, touches of deep reds, lots of yellows, etc. This is an autumnal vision to me. And the posture of the man & the way you've draped the clothes on him (or arranged them—don't know the terms, coming from 2D) has a ceremonious feeling, a display, a pageant almost. You've caught him as a character of some repute & import, and you've rendered him as he might be rendered in a literary painting, part expository, part commentary on his character, telling us a lot about him in a single painting. He has swagger. I just love the way you've shown the clothing and included touches like the red scarf in one hand and the gold buckle, etc. The hat has swagger & the black birds (ravens?) are placed to suggest that while they may be 'intruders', he's wholly at home with them, a man of the city perhaps, yet not out of touch with his natural instincts. (This is almost a literary type of the 19th C, an idealized male, part urbane, part natural man.) The tilt of the hat also suggests casual regard. Swagger & collectedness. (Small detail but well done. The tilt always suggests a casual disregard for propriety: Crowns are worn straight up; but hats can be worn to the side...we get "panache" from the root meaning plume or feather, when plumes were worn as headdress to give swagger and sweep to the head. In fact, our word 'pen' is from the same root, originally made from a plume or feather.) Then those tall grasses (prairie grass? maybe he's been in the Midwest, lol), and that wonderful old stone house and the bare trees cutting across it almost in gothic manner (gothic literature-wise, not cathedral wise, lol), and that ominous but semi golden sky; and your nicely detailed fence...your details are compiled & seen with real mastery, and you've even shadowed the young man so that the grasses & fence seem to show his presence, and it flattens the image a bit, making it a print not just a software photo or painting. (This is a subtle point, but great prints often have a slightly 'flat' look to them, through various means; they flatten perspective a little, making a 3 dimensional image look a bit like a bas relief.) Good harmony too—ie, the way the trees lean into him (left side), balancing the house & branches (right). Even the sky is a combination of bright with menacing...menace with swagger. This is a wonderful design, a wonderful capture of a literary/mythic character; your 'boy' is part boy/part man—beloved by 19th C writers, as he's sophisticated yet still natural & instinctive—and you caught him in motion but turning to see us, filled with resolve & swagger while just enough out of place to convey a little devil-may-care. And your border is like a fabric backing, making it an intimate piece in a chamber. I love this. It has all your design sense, subtle sense of humor, your ability to evoke the dramatic & even melodramatic with panache (that word again), and it's beautiful linear & color design. Bravo. Tell Sebastian I'll meet him tomorrow on the moor. If you can reach him on his cell (lol)...
Cgaynor
Not too dark and very well done- I like the richness of the scene, wheat, character, cloths, background all of this...