1ArcticFox’s PERSONAL FAQ’S


1. WHY DO YOU USE MOSTLY BOLD, BRIGHT COLORS?
They stimulate me, motivate me and make me feel happy! Perhaps it is my work in the operating room as a surgical trauma nurse and my 5 years as a Domestic Violence counselor, as well as having cancer, so I prefer to focus of the positive, bright side of life! I leave the dark, moody art to others.

2. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT COLORS TO USE?
I have NO idea! lol It just comes “naturally”.....really.....I don’t even think about it! I don’t use a color wheel! I can be sewing a multicolored fabric and run out of thread. Then off to the store I go and match the colors perfectly without having the fabric with me. I’m just really lucky! I never think ahead of picking colors for a fractal. I make my own gradients and try out as many as a hundred on a fractal, until the colors bring out the best design. Gradients can make or break a fractal! Not everyone likes bold colors and that’s a good thing – but it’s what I do.....it’s who I am!

3. ARE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY ARTISTIC?
Yes! My grandfather was an inventor (mechanical/auto drawings), my mom sewed beautiful clothing, her brother was an incredible artist/inventor, and her sister did competition flower design. My father’s junior high school art was amazing! (he had to drop out and work on the farm and didn’t finish school) My older daughter is an outstanding artist (she doesn’t think so) and started her art at 18 months of age. My son is an engineer (civil engineering designs), and my younger daughter has an unbelievable, spot on sense of color! I have grandchildren that are artistically gifted as well.

4. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE FRACTAL PROGRAMS?
I love FraxPlorer because it creates such bold shapes and colors, yet the fractals have a simplicity about them which I love. I remain fascinated with Apophysis, because it is so mercurial and the slightest movement of a triangle can drastically change a fractal design, creating sooooo many patterns! I enjoy Fractal Explorer because it is so challenging to me.....it drives me nuts! The first time I used it.....I opened it and became so frustrated with it.....I closed it 10 minutes later and didn’t touch it for another 6 months! lol Then it became a “challenge” to see if I could get anything decent out of it! (it still is)

5. DO YOU USE MATH OR WRITE SCRIPTS?
You’re kidding me right?? NO.....a thousand times NO!! I am mathematically/sequentially challenged (a true learning disorder) and couldn’t if my life depended on it – even though I was in the gifted program in school! Scripts.....math? I might as well try to read Russian! (which I do not speak)

6. HOW DO YOU MAKE FRACTALS THEN?
lol I’ll have to answer this in parts. For now, I’ll only refer to Apophysis in this journal. I start with a random fractal, very carefully selected and then create fractals with Apophysis strictly by dragging triangles in the flame editor and/or changing the size/shape of the triangle. I will once in awhile very carefully delete a triangle here and there and less often, add one. I just experiment.

I RARELY use the mutation feature and IF I do, I change the fractal many times afterwards by moving the triangles! Much of the time I start in Apo 2.02 – I know – surprising isn’t it! I try to select a fractal that looks very “mercurial”.....one that makes sudden changes and turns into all sorts of clear and wonderful things. They aren’t terribly common, so I will search for a VERY long time! I will go through several hundred, sometimes only to give up until the next day!

Then after “drawing” with the triangles in the flame editor until I find something REALLY interesting, I will render the flame and open it in the current version of Apo, where I continue to drag triangles around as for as long as my arm will take it! I spent nearly a week developing each one of my Dreamcatcher & Jelly series fractals!! They both started with an “interesting” flame in Apo 2.02 in which I deleted a very strategic triangle and then the fractal snapped into a clear, mercurial form (yes.....it’s true) after a bazillion hours! Then it was weeks upon weeks of careful triangle manipulation until I found just what I wanted!

7. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A FLAME TO START WITH?
The hardest part is finding that “special flame” in Apo 2.02! I don’t know how to describe what I see in a flame that tells me it is that “miracle flame” but there’s a certain “orderliness” that is different from other flames. The flame will change shapes rapidly, drastically, (and differently from other flames) when you move triangles the tiniest bit and if the triangle is moved too fast something beautiful will be missed – and the possibilities are absolutely infinite! A lot of it is just trial and error – starting with a flame and going as far as I can until I can see it’s a waste of time or –“here comes something great!” I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted in this learning process!! It’s like so much of life.....nothing like “time under the belt” teaches as well!

I guess you could say I’m a “think outside the box” person or a “go by feel”, “fly by the seat of the pants” sort of person and that’s something that’s very difficult to teach or put into words. One just has to open the mind, see things in new ways and jump in.....and put a LOT of time in! Of course there are people who just plain call me.....a maverick!

8. DO YOU SHARE PARAMETERS?
No, currently I don’t. For me, it’s a matter of my “ personal identity ” to create something that is unique to me. If everybody else does it I lose interest in doing my own art and that’s not a place I want to be! It’s kind of a “travel my own road thing”, rather than not wanting to share! I’ve been like that all my life! That’s why I have never copied other peoples’ art!

9. HOW DO I GET YOU TO ANSWER MY QUESTION?
NOTE me!! If you leave a question under one of my deviations, your question will usually get lost in all the messages, so if you have a question, PLEASE send me a separate note. I’ll do my very best to at least send you a brief answer, and if my arm is behaving you might get a longer answer!

10. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST 3 MONTHS?

lol Taking some much needed time away.....refreshing, regrouping, thinking.....thinking some more, taking care of a lot of little life “stuff” and trying to recuperate from this nearly 2 year roller coaster of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease! Also there was a long dry artistic spell! Anybody ever have one of those? When one can’t focus, it makes it VERY hard to create art! I’m not sure how often I’ll be here.....it depends to some degree on my arm which has also been giving me fits. (Carpal Tunnel is seen in Graves’ Disease) I’ll be here as much as I can but can’t be as active as I wish I could and that drives me crazy! I do hope to start submitting some art again! I love photography and it gives my arm a break so this account will have to accommodate fractals AND photos!