Fractal imagery has been my preferred venue for artistic expression over the last four years. As with paint, clay or camera, the computer has become an extension of my self for the manipulation of color and form; programs provide my palettes and tools, cyberspace my canvas. A collection of my Fractal Images is at Immrama or click on any of the Slide Show images. There was also a Gallery exhibition in May & June, 2000, at The Jega Gallery in Ashland, Oregon.
    In the spring of 1995, while researching Celtic knot theory I came upon a reference to fractals. Familiar with fractal geometry from my earlier studies, I hadn't seen a fractal image for several years. Searching online, I found a web ring, the Infinite Fractal Loop, of more than 50 fractal artists (some 300 now) and the newsgroup, alt.binaries.pictures.fractals, where fractal artists post their work and provide links to other artists' sites. One such artist is Stephen Ferguson, who's written several fractal generation programs and makes them available for free download from his website. These programs are the eggs from which my designs hatch.
    Each fractal is essentially a 3Dimensional graph, generated utilizing a program like GrafZViZion or Ultra Fractal. The resultant graph holds a mini-universe to explore until the shape or tone or feel of a particular area of the universe catches me. From there evolves the true creation, manipulating form and color until the piece resonates. A set of equation is iterated for the creation of each and every pixel, (as many as 375 trillion!), is carried to 14 decimal places of precision. These computations develop a pattern of "self similarity" in the image, repeating constantly into greater and greater depth.
    My fractals are printed with a state-of-the-art Light Jet 5000, which prints directly from my original digital file via three monochromatic lasers to etch the image onto Fujichrome Type C photographic paper, at 4000dpi resolution, creating archival images of phenomenal clarity and detail.
    A article in our local paper, the Medford Mail Tribune, says looking at fractals is a bit like peering into eternity. It shows a picture of my fractal, Ikebana, which reporter Bill Varble says, "looks rather like a vase of flowers, but each tiny bubble among the swirling lines contains an image of the entire fractal-very much smaller and just slightly different. If you blew up one of these smaller bubbles you'd have a nearly identical image of the whole fractal, including a new batch of bubbles. Blow up one of these and you'd have another, and so on down through trillions of points of millions of colors. The fractal universe contains an infinite number of universes. Each is nearly identical to the last. The deeper you go the more the pattern differentiates."
    My favorite fractal is the one I haven't created yet; which is yours?