Retired professional full-time portrait artist and engineer (degrees in mathematics, engineering and photography... go figure).
If you read bios, and sometimes revisit them, you'll know in 2018 I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. Then, in 2020, a new neurologist (because I moved across country) diagnosed me as having Parkinson's. Then, after some serious issues with jerking movements, she sent me to a movement specialist, and NOW this new neurologist who specializes in movement disorders has said I don't have MG, MS, ALS, Parkinson's, or any other host of neuromuscular diseases. She classified the movements as non-essential tremors, and said, "My hardware is over loading my software." That's the 2022 diagnosis.
2023 Update - It turns out that I have a half-dozen discs in my spine that are collapsing. Thus, Degenerative Disc Disease, or DDD for short. I never knew that DDD could cause tremors (well, the pain causes them) and stuff like that. Now I go to physical therapy 4 days a week to hopefully avoid spinal surgery.
I've got high hopes and remain positive.
I started doing 3D renders in DAZ and Poser started when I first became sick at the start of 2018. It is a distraction from my symptoms, and I'm not under any pressure or deadlines to get things done. Even this is difficult on some days, but I can always stop temporarily to get some rest. In July, 2020, my wife and I moved across country to be closer to children and grandchildren.
If I'm not cooking or preparing for a meal, I'm rendering. Art and food are my passions.
I used to enjoy travel, bicycling, cooking (which I can still do in short bursts), photography (again, in short bursts), hiking and painting (which I now do digitally). I'm determined to do something with my time even if my strength is greatly limited.
Just prior to getting sick I drove ALL of Route 66. I've been using some of the photos from that trip and adding 3D characters to them. You can see them in my Route 66 gallery here on Renderosity. You can actually follow the story at Route66Photographers.com. It's a fictional story about my travels with a rambunctious young lady named Charly.
My wife is my biggest supporter. She helps me come up with ideas to render and paint.
Brent's Rules to Live By...
1) Everyone can teach you something regardless of age or education.
2) When you're down, a child's smile will always lift you up.
3) Keep God's commandments, as best you can, but when you can't, repent quickly.
4) Read your scriptures daily, but pray all the time.
5) Love everyone, but don't expect anything from them in return.
Artist of the Month - December, 2021
https://www.renderosity.com/article/24824/interview-with-december-2021-artist-of-the-month-dbwalton
Comments (4)
UteBigSmile
This new image looks always simply beautiful, love especially the lightning here! I wish you a great new week!
dbwalton
Thank you. I had a great weekend playing with the grandchildren.
I hope yours was nice too.
Saby55
Great job, as always!👍🙋♂️
jdwtrxk
I struggle with symbolism and assumed the girl was meant to be some sort of allegory for the current looting of Amazon packages and such despite the reference to steam, the girl's steampunkish outfit, and the bit about staying off the tracks. Thus the reference to modern firearms in my comment on the companion post. Never figured she represented the train itself....
Trains can move. Seventy miles per hour is over a hundred feet per second and while sound travels at around 1100 fps at sea level they can be on you fairly quick if you aren't attentive. In flat areas like Florida, freights can be heard for miles laterally but the faster passengers are more stealthy if you are in their path and in areas where sound in channeled it's even worse. My uncle was an engineer with the B&O (later Chessie) and ran over a drunk in Baltimore. Sucker never knew what hit him, though his impaired state might have contributed to his demise..
As for the other post - never had a modern semi auto jam with factory loads except an heirloom 1903 .380 Pocket Colt. I still regard revolvers as safer alternatives for home defense, though my all round recommendation is a pump shotgun like the Mossberg 590 Stainless Steel Marine. User and maintenance friendly, less likely to cause collateral damage from strays and and less susceptible to moronic legislation. Tough to fit in a drawer or under a pillow but hopefully the clackety-clack will deter potential antagonists before a tragedy.
Light and palette is pretty good by the way...
dbwalton
I'm just having fun. She's a super-hero with super powers. She can do whatever she wants, including stopping a speeding train with her tiny blade. LOL.
My grandfather was an engineer with Union Pacific. He taught me to respect the tracks.
In NY where I moved from a couple of years ago, where there are tunnels of trees around the tracks and the sound compression factor resulted with deaths every year. One was an idiot young lady who wanted to be a photographer. She took her girl friend and her boy friend to the tracks for photos. They were both struck and killed by a train.
I will never forget her comment to the news, "I thought we'd see and hear the train coming."
And, yes, although sound travels at 1100fps, the doppler effect on the frequency also plays a factor. The deaths usually occur when people have their back turned away from the direction of the train's travel.
I can't speak for trains in Florida, but I've read about too many deaths in California, Idaho, and New York. The majority of them were teens walking along the tracks.
PhthaloBlue
Fabulous!