I had been doing some pretty colorful pieces, so I thought it would be good to focus on light and shadow for a change. This is a closeup photograph of an orange rose, but I took away all the color except for the water droplets.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Isaiah 60:1-3

I created this for Easter, but it's also appropriate for Christmas

From Handel's Messiah
O thou, that tellest good tidings to Zion (Arise, shine; for thy light is come)
For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth

A lone ship tossed on a stormy sea. Created in Vue.

This is the kind of day to stay inside and drink something hot while you look out the window at the winter landscape. If that sleet and black ice don't make the indoors more inviting, I don't know what does!

This is the third variation of this scene,
Clouds Go Sailing By
Clear Autumn Day

Lake Nojiri near Nagano, Japan. This is where my family used to go on vacation in the summer and sometimes winter, and I took this picture there, probably around Christmas of 2000. Although it wasn't cold enough to form much ice on the lake, because it was in the Japanese Alps there was usually a lot of snow in the winter.

“I saw plainly on the path before me … the shadow of a large hand, with knotty joints and protuberances here and there. Especially I remarked, even in the midst of my fear, the bulbous points of the fingers. I looked hurriedly all around, but could see nothing from which such a shadow should fall. I looked, and peered, and intensified my vision, all to no purpose. I could see nothing of that kind, not even an ash-tree in the neighbourhood. Still the shadow remained; not steady, but moving to and fro, and once I saw the fingers close, and grind themselves close, like the claws of a wild animal, as if in uncontrollable longing for some anticipated prey …

“There seemed but one mode left of discovering the substance of this shadow. I went forward boldly, though with an inward shudder which I would not heed, to the spot where the shadow lay, threw myself on the ground, laid my head within the form of the hand, and turned my eyes towards the moon.

“Good heavens! what did I see? I wonder that ever I arose, and that the very shadow of the hand did not hold me where I lay until fear had frozen my brain. I saw the strangest figure; vague, shadowy, almost transparent, in the central parts, and gradually deepening in substance towards the outside, until it ended in extremities capable of casting such a shadow as fell from the hand, through the awful fingers of which I now saw the moon. The hand was uplifted in the attitude of a paw about to strike its prey.”

—Phantastes, by George MacDonald

This photograph of the morning sun shining through the trees was taken a few feet to the right of Fertility, but on a different morning. I didn't often have time in the mornings to look at the view, but I always enjoyed when I had a chance to watch the sunrise.

This scene from some far-away frozen planet was created in Terragen. I don't remember if it's where I got the name, but it makes me think of John Rutter's Distant Land.

These azaleas were looking nice and fresh after a spring rainstorm. I thought the raindrops gave a nice sparkle, and a little selective coloring helped to bring out the glowing center.

This was a photograph I took of my cat, Dusky, looking hyperactive as usual. Selective coloring is a technique that can be overused, but it seemed appropriate for this picture with those glowing eyes!