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07/01/09:

• Time for an update. As you may have noticed, things have slowed down somewhat around here during the past month. The truth is that my medical condition has flared up again and I had to have surgery last Tuesday. The surgery was a "redo" of a procedure I had done originally in December, which turned out to be unsuccessful.

  The recovery wasn't too bad last time so I assumed the same would be true this time around. My Doctor had other ideas though and added some hardware to the procedure to give it a better chance of success. I hope it works because the last week has really been hell on Earth for me.

  I'm pretty much bedridden now (typing this on my laptop) and I don't know how long this will last. At least I am not in the hospital I guess. I sure hope this works (and I never have to go through with it again).

  I have set my workstation rendering an "improved" version of "Enshrouded". The clouds look a lot more like fog and are less busy.Realism comes at a price CPU-wise though. It still has a couple of days left to go and I will try to post it as soon as it is done. I will get a multi-screen render going on another machine after that so I can get busy on a new wallpaper as soon as I can stand sitting at my computer.

  I also have a few renders sitting around that I didn't think were "gallery-quality" but that some of you might enjoy checking out. I'll try to get those into the Pickle Jar shortly.

• One thing that has made the last week a little less terrible is that I finally got an iPhone. I've been exploring it the past couple of days and I can already see some DB-iPhone possibilies. My kids bought me an iTunes gift card for Father's Day so I've been raiding the AppStore. If any of you can recommend some apps/games that will help me take my mind off all of this please feel free to share. I've already downloaded "Enigmo" and "Flight Control" am they're both really cool.
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06/25/09:

• I started a new render of my project last night, but when I saw this morning that it had two days left before it would be complete I decided that enough was enough. I'm not completely happy with the render I have, but I've gone ahead and posted it for your review rather than make you all wait any longer. The wallpaper is called "Enshrouded" and you'll find it on the new images page. I am in the process of making some changes so be sure to check back in a day or two as there may be a newer version available.

  This new image takes full advantage of the cloud rendering technology available in the newest version of Vue d'Esprit. The clouds looks great but they still take forever to render, even on my 8-core workstation. Perhaps another hardware upgrade is in order soon...

• Sort of on that subject; when I lowered the price on the Lifetime Memberships last month a lot of people asked if they could continue making donations even though they are permanent Members. I've added a form just for that purpose. If you look in the middle of the link column to your left you will see a "tip" box. $2 is in the field by default but you can make donations of any amount you like. The button will lead you to a form where you can enter your credit card or PayPal details. Thanks everyone!

• MaDonna Update: It looks like she has taken down the majority of her collection so I am happy. Thanks to everyone for helping out with this!
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06/18/09

• I hope to have my new wallpaper ready by tomorrow. As I mentioned on the Twitter feed and Facebook page, we took a little family trip last week to visit some friends in Austin, TX. I've been working on this project since Friday.

  Lately, I've gotten a number of emails from folks alerting me to the fact that my work is being used by another designer in the "Firefox Personas" gallery. Personas are a way to apply an image to your web browser interface, kind of like a skin. Just so everyone will know, I haven't decided what to do about this MaDonna person. The Persona gallery doesn't really allow you to contact the designer and she/he doesn't have any links that I could find. Guess I will have to go through the site.

  Anyway, the experience inspired me to create a few of my own "Personas" (while waiting for renders) and you can check them out here. If the response is positive I could see making a few more.

  Look for the new render hopefully within the next couple of days. TGIF.

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06/02/09

• Added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Beginning of the End" to the gallery this evening. I would have had them up sooner, but I chose to render each version separately. I chose to split the dual-screen version down the middle because it just didn't look right all shoved over onto one side. Hope it looks okay!
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05/25/09:

• Here in the States we are celebrating Memorial Day, but before we load up the kids for the family cookout I wanted to post my latest project. It's called "Beginning of the End" and it is a near complete 180 from "In Full Bloom". Sort of bleak, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

• This is the last day of Zazzle's 70% off poster sale. Coupon code "MEMORIALSALE". Enjoy!

• Lastly, I will be increasing the fees for Lifetime Memberships at the end of the month (though not all the way back to their previous level). The price will be $75 for new Members and $60 for renewals. Please act now if you want to lock in the current low price!
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05/23/09:

• I am currently putting the finishing touches on my latest render but this news couldn't wait. Zazzle is having a big sale for Memorial Day weekend. All posters (including mine) are 70% off!; Just enter code "MEMORIALSALE" at checkout. Get em while they're hot!

05/13/09:

• After an incredibly long render, my dual and triple screen versions of "In Full Bloom" are now available. Hope they are worth the wait!
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05/04/09:

• As I mentioned last time, "In Full Bloom" is a work in progress. I read all of the comments with great interest, reworked some things, and I've just now posted a new version for your review. I've changed the background, lighting, some of the colors and, well, see for yourself. I hope you like the new render!

• I'd also like to mention that I made a post in my blog regarding yearly vs. lifetime memberships. Have a look if you are interested.
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05/01/09:

• Added "In Full Bloom" to the gallery this afternoon. I may play around with this a little more over the weekend, but I think it looked nice enough to share as it is. Don't know about you but I am seriously ready for spring!
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04/25/09:

• A couple of things to mention. First, I've decided to experiment a little with my prices. Forthwith, or until I decide to change it back, the price for current (and former) members to purchase a Lifetime Renewal will be $49 (down from $99).

  If the price is attractive to enough people, it will stay that way. Otherwise this may be a limited time offer. You guys are reading this right now because you enjoy my artwork. I want it to be affordable for more of you.

  Secondly, work is progressing nicely on my latest project and I expect to have a render up shortly. Looking good so far!

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04/18/09:

• I've added the dual and triple screen versions of "Temple of the Leaf" (both day and night) to the gallery this morning.
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04/13/09:It took me a little longer than I would have liked (tweaking all those lights), but I finally have the promised night version of "Temple of the Leaf" up in the gallery. I chose to do the single-screen night version before the multi-screen so it would be easier to render the two multi-screens without any extra (or duplicated) setup work. I'm going to get on those straightaway.

Hope you guys like it. I'm on now to new projects.

03/31/09:

• Added "Temple of the Leaf" to the gallery this morning. I wonder if anyone can place where I got the inspiration for the pyramid design (hint: I'm re-reading one of my favorite series right now). I may do a little more tweaking on this one, but I thought it looked good enough to post as is. Hope you enjoy it!
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03/24/09:

• After looking at your comments and ratings I've decided to switch the versions of "Desert Dawn". The darker version will remain in the Pickle Jar and the brighter version will be available in the main gallery. dual and triple screen (all of the "Desert Dawn" sizes can be found here). Thanks for the feedback everyone!

03/21/09:

• I've posted the dual and triple screen versions of "Desert Dawn" this morning. I'm pretty much decided that the "blue sky" version will be the one that ends up the gallery so I am going to render a multi-screen version of that, make the switch, and then move on to something new.
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03/15/09:

• One of the byproducts of being laid up for weeks is that I've had a lot of time to watch TV (something I really didn't do that much before the surgery). A lot of "Good Eats", "Modern Marvels", and old movies on TCM. One of these old movies was "The Searchers" (watched this one on Blu-Ray) and it provided the inspiration for my latest wallpaper.

  The wallpaper is called "Desert Dawn" and it is now up for your review. I would have had it up a couple of days ago but I decided at the last minute to change up the atmosphere. I version I settled on is up on the new images page, and the first version is available in the Pickle Jar. Which do you prefer?

  Either way, I hope you enjoy them. It looks like Zazzle is offering 50% off all poster prints. If you've been waiting to purchase one now might be the right time. Just enter the code "ZAZZLEPOSTER" at checkout to apply the discount.

• Lastly, I wanted to mention (in case you hadn't looked at my blog) that I trying to sell one of my Quadro video cards. If you are in need of a high-powered worksation class 3D card for (relatively) cheap let me know. See my blog post for more details.
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03/11/09:

• Just an update: Everything is going well healthwise (thanks everyone for asking) and I'm almost all healed up. I've been working on a new project now for the past 4 or 5 days and it's coming along nicely. I hope to have something up in a day or two.

  Anyone interested in more frequent updates on my progress (and sometimes other random thoughts) is welcome to "follow" my new Digital Blasphemy Twitter feed. If you don't want to sign up for Twitter itself you can read the updates in a box to the right.

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