A fallen leaf reflects the tree it came from.

Here in South Carolina my maple tree won't look like this for another month, but this is a sight I've seen many times in previous autumns - a bright red male cardinal in a yellow maple. The cardinals are often the first birds to show up when I refill the bird feeder.

I started out with a snowflake ornament, and intended this picture to celebrate the first day of winter, but I decided the star looked better. I think it was still appropriate, to celebrate the Light of the world on the longest night of the year. And that year it was also the new moon, so it was the darkest night as well!

“Silent Night! Holy Night!
All is calm, all is bright
'Round yon virgin mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.”

“Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires: Hesperus that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon
Rising in clouded Majesty, at length
Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light,
And o're the dark her Silver Mantle threw.”
— Paradise Lost

I created this picture in Vue to use for a mural on my bedroom wall.

It looks nice for a picture, but it's a pain when you're out walking! This took over a week to render (at a larger size than this), mainly because of the blurring.

This design is in the Art Deco style popular in the early 1900s. I came across a lot of stained-glass designs in my researches, so I decided to try one with the popular sun motif. I had fun picking textures from various Apophysis and Xaos renders, some of which have been sitting on my computer for months or even years. There are bits of Eyes of the Storms, Waltz of the Snowflakes, and Chaos Tie-Dyed in there, as well as others that have never seen the light of day.
December 21, 2015

Not more than one person in five hundred years finds this tiny island. It doesn't stay in one place very long. But anyone who is drawn to these mysterious lanterns, and comes to get a closer look, vanishes into another world, and never comes back. The question is, do they want to?

For anyone who loves to daydream!

“Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you're just a reflection of him?”
— Bill Watterson

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

This is what you get when you lie on the bench watching the “Clouds Go Sailing By”, instead of mowing the grass!

This is the second of three variations of this scene,
Clouds Go Sailing By
Winter's Chill