The quickest way for me to describe myself is for you to think of any half-arsed occupation/pastime/philosophy and put the word "Ex" in front of it..I probably fit the bill at some stage in my life..

I live with my mildly aggressive yet endlessly entertaining wife, Lyn, on 33 acres of isolated scrub, bush, gum trees and rocks in the hills overlooking the Murraylands of South Australia. We have by far and away the smallest farm in the district, all of our neighbours count their acres in the thousands and tens of thousands. We share the property with kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, snakes, rabbits, foxes and a multitude of birds in seemingly endless varieties.

We breed ducks and chooks, and have an unholy trio of house-pets consisting of a miniature poodle, an insane cat called Jack, and an enormous German Shepherd that doesn't like strangers..

The rabbits and foxes are a major problem, the rabbits (introduced by English settlers to carry on their love of Hunting in the new colony.) destroy the native vegetation, and the foxes (introduced by English settlers to carry on their love of Hunting in the new colony) destroy the native wildlife. My wife continually attempts to even things out a little with her Shepherd and her shotgun. (A lethal combination)...She's very good at it, must have got it from her English settler heritage..

I on the other hand, am a man of peace, and prefer to sit in a slowly disintegrating leather armchair on the verandah, and listen to my football team (Glenelg) lose yet again, and ponder the iniquities of Aussie Rules Football over the odd cold beer...

When there's no football, I still sit in my chair with the odd cold beer, but I'll read a book, or computer mag, or listen to music, or sometimes doodle on a sketchpad. When I've had one odd cold beer too many, I'll write poetry.

LOSS

Where does this all come from, Kim?

This particular poem is the first in a series that I wrote to try and describe the anger I felt at the death of a much loved friend, from leukemia...

Apart from muckin' about with Gfx, my main joy is landscaping the house block, which is 5 acres of huge Gum trees, Wattles, Veldt Grass, an aquifer fed natural spring, and a lot of very large rocks. I have given the rest of the property back to nature, and it's doing a bloody marvellous job too

I avoid post-production as much as possible. If it comes out of the render looking more or less like I wanted, then I'll leave it alone... I'm a great believer in the KISS principle..

Well maybe one. I love reds, oranges and yellows. Which are also the colors of fire, explosions etc..

It's an awesome collection of objects brilliantly displayed. Tell us what this image means to you.

A passing fascination with Poser (V3).. but I could never quite get the hang of it.. Thermaea was my last determined attempt to get something out of it. (Thermaea herself is an invention, an apocryphal muse who consumes her lovers in fire).

This image is a far cry from your usual style, although the lighting and effects are truely Gleghorn. Tell us what brought this image to life.

As far as influences go, Frank Picini inspired me to follow the dark side and explore detail, shadow and balance, and is probably still my favorite digital artist. I get a lot of ideas from the classic Paint 'n Paper Sci-Fi artists like Chris Moore, Melvyn Grant and their ilk.

As to favorite images... Picini's "Darkness On Your Faith" is difficult to look at, but I keep going back to it. "The Darkness Craves A Mind" is a harsh and enervating image (Can't give you a link, it appears to be broken) but I personally consider it a masterwork.

Bruce Huffman..! What can I say. He's a legend. Everything he does is remarkable, but "Hell's Blade" almost made me give up Gfx.

There are a couple of others

Cynthia Anderson, who's images are a long cold drink of water on a very hot day... I love her most recent, "Flight into Fantasy" In fact I like everything she does.

Michelle Surgess, I admire (and envy) the complexity and colors of her work, as in "Transcendence Part 2"

Chris Pappathan who has mastered Bryce's Landscape capabilities and added something unique to them. "Willow Lake" is a good example. (I have studied his work and even asked his occasional collaborator, Kim S Lenz, how he achieves certain effects. But I can not emulate them.)

There are others, too many to list....

 Thanks for participating and we are on the edge of our seats waiting for more !!!!!!