Happy New Year!

If you follow the path in Welcome to the Cwm down to the bonfire and look to the right, you might see the Northern Lights.

I had the idea and made a picture like this back in 2011 when I was fairly new to Vue software and 3D landscapes in general. Since I've gotten more experience I've been thinking for some time of redoing it. I love miniatures! Here's the earlier version.

I love frost and snow and things that sparkle in the sun - even though I know a late frost can do some damage in the garden. But this virtual rose isn't going to be hurt by the last frost of winter.

I first had the idea for this on a family trip around Thanksgiving of 2016. I was watching the landscape go by and noticed how the smaller trees still had their leaves, and how the dead leaves were almost pink. It may not be as beautiful as spring flowers or autumn leaves or snow, but there are scenes worth looking at even in an apparently lifeless landscape. This hanging on of dead leaves through the winter is called “marcescence”, and it is especially common in young oak trees like these.

This is my digital artwork, not a photograph.

Although we tend to think of it more in the summer, the ocean is there all year.

This was inspired by the Disney short film “Piper”.

When I was growing up in Japan the cherry blossoms would bloom just in time for my birthday in early April. It was a windy time of year, and there would often be showers of petals falling.

This is what you would see if you lay down on the ground under the cherry tree in my Cherry Tree Concerto scene.

What could be more peaceful and refreshing than a quiet winter sunset?

This is my digital artwork, not a photograph.

A while ago I had the idea of a “snow” globe with different seasons, and I finally got the spring version realized. I hope to do the other seasons as well.

This was my first time working with Vue's EcoParticle technology. It allows for objects, in this case cherry blossoms, to be scattered through the air. It's primarily for animations, but by choosing a point several seconds into the scattering I was able to get a nice still version.

Concerto: a composition for one or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment.

This was actually inspired by an Easter picture I saw, but it took me about 6 months to finish it.

If you were to lie down on the ground under the cherry tree you would see April Showers.

I had planted a couple packets of wildflower seeds in my window boxes, but the list of flowers only had the scientific names, so I didn't really know what I was planting. Well, now I know what cosmos is and that window boxes aren't the best place for it! But the cornflowers were my favorite. I didn't know how many different shades they were. This is not a photograph of my window boxes, but the cornflowers blooming there inspired me to make this virtual cornflower field in Vue.