Down in the turquoise waters of the sea are ocean rocks hollowed by the waves into caves and grotesque shapes. Around them grows sea-weed and coral in every shade of the rainbow. The rays of sunlight shine the ripples of the surface down on the sandy floor littered with seashells and starfish. In the distance dolphins play around a diver against the background of giant kelp.

October 25, 2022

“I arrived at another hall, the roof of which was of a pale blue, spangled with constellations of silver stars, and supported by porphyry pillars of a paler red than ordinary. The whole of the floor of this hall, except a narrow path behind the pillars, paved with black, was hollowed into a huge basin, many feet deep, and filled with the purest, most liquid and radiant water. The bottom was paved with all kinds of refulgent stones, of every shape and hue. Led by an irresistible desire, I undressed, and plunged into the water. I rose to the surface, shook the water from my hair, and swam as in a rainbow, amid the coruscations of the gems below seen through the agitation caused by my motion. Then, with open eyes, I dived, and swam beneath the surface. And here was a new wonder. For the basin, thus beheld, appeared to extend on all sides like a sea, with here and there groups as of ocean rocks, hollowed by ceaseless billows into wondrous caves and grotesque pinnacles. Around the caves grew sea-weeds of all hues, and the corals glowed between. I thought I had been enchanted; and that when I rose to the surface, I should find myself miles from land, swimming alone upon a heaving sea; but when my eyes emerged from the waters, I saw above me the blue spangled vault, and the red pillars around.”

— Phantastes, by George MacDonald

September 1, 2022

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together!
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!
—The Lord of the Rings

June 1, 2022

I love playing with water and other refractive materials in the sunlight.

July 27, 2020

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.

January 1, 2019

This is a night version of one of my favorite scenes—Glittering Caves of Aglarond

“Immeasurable halls, filled with an everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools. Gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hand of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose, fluted and twisted into dreamlike form, they spring up from many-colored floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof; wings, ropes, curtains fine as frozen clouds; spears, banners, pinnacles of suspended palaces! Still lakes mirror them; a glimmering world looks up from dark pools covered with clear glass.”
—The Lord of the Rings, Book III, Chapter 8

October 13, 2017

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”.

June 30, 2017

“Immeasurable halls, filled with an everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools. Gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hand of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose, fluted and twisted into dreamlike form, they spring up from many-colored floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof; wings, ropes, curtains fine as frozen clouds; spears, banners, pinnacles of suspended palaces! Still lakes mirror them; a glimmering world looks up from dark pools covered with clear glass.”
— The Lord of the Rings, Book III, Chapter 8

I worked on this picture off and on for several months, and I finally got it where I wanted it. This is my 3D digital artwork, not a photograph. Created in Vue Complete 2014.

March 15, 2016

This space fantasy image was inspired by Empyrean from Mike Oldfield's Music of the Spheres.

January 1, 2016

This was an experiment in digital reflections and refractions.

December 5, 2015