So there's this phenom that happens now and again. I'll be poking at art in FA and a link will lead to another link and then I discover a fantastic artist I've never seen before. Going through their posts is like finding a trove of Impressionist art, or Maxfield Parrish or something. I start 'favoriting' art... click... click... click... and then suddenly realize that I just might be attempting to add their entire portfolio to my favorites. -.-

Search for Silverone in FA, or look at her pics I've favorited here and follow the links back. Incredible stuff. I can hardly wait to peer into -her- favorites and see what's there.

I want to thank people who write in and tell me that they like the images I've posted. I've watched a lot of great artists on FA and admit that wanted to be part of the great effort to put furry imagery before the public. As long as it was what I thought was good!

However, I think what I do is actually photography. Others have worked hard to create their avatar from toe to eartip. What I've done is set up a scene or circumstance in SL or some game, controlled the lighting as much as is allowed, and then pressed the virtual shutter button. The image is tweaked a little or a lot in Photoshop before it is posted here.

Sometimes I don't alter an image at all, apart from cropping it. There's a dark portrait of a feline in my gallery which one person thought was hand-drawn, this due to the skill of the avatar creator and the whim of in-world lighting alone.

I feel comfortable with calling what I do art; there are enough art galleries in the world showing photos right now to validate my thinking. But in no way do I or can I claim the final credit for the beauty of any image in my gallery. That belongs to other, very talented people.

Ok. I admit it. I like pictures of giant animal girls. You've probably seen one or two in my favorites. I'm a little odd I suppose, but in a fandom full of interesting, odd, creative and imaginative people, perhaps I can be forgiven a quirk or three.

You will note a lack of the violent or overtly sexual examples of this particular genre, simply because it's not for me. Macrophilia for me has always been more about awe and wonder anyway; there's nothing attractive to me about gigantic psychopaths destroying cities to satisfy primal urges. Perhaps unless the art or story is a metaphor or allegory for something more profound.

There are some terrific artists in the genre. Both Ken Sample (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cougr) and Scream ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/scream/ ) are good artists, but with every new art post my appreciation of whatever technical prowess that is shown is tempered with the knowledge that within the context of the art someone is in pain or dying, there are war crimes being committed and the main character(s) are obviously psychopathic.

There have been many times I wanted to type "Nice art. Too bad he or she's a psychopath." Wrrf.

And I am just going to throw this out here; If an artist puts out the same thematic, violent material time and time again... what does this say about them or their audience? No I don't know the answer to that one.... I would really like to hear opinions!

I've been watching FA'a homepage for a few days and I've started to wonder something. Is the fandom slowly drifting away from being about anthropomorphic treatments of existing animals? Certainly there do seem to be a lot of what I'll call "generic" furs; muzzle, ears, blackish nose, tail. Generically canine. It's been a long time though since I've seen a fox-colored fox or a cheetah or what have you. Seeing lots of dragons, pokemon and other undefinable creatures.

Maybe I'm just not tuned in at the times they're uploaded! Things scroll by pretty quickly on FA's homepage.

I have to say that there are more furs in my area of the country than I had thought! I was impressed by the turnout for the con. There were even a good number of fursuiters.

I decided to bring one of my cels for the art show, which caused some attention. The organizers wanted to beef up security for the art show because of it! Well, if FurIdaho continues to grow, they'll need to address that issue anyway.

I'll be attending next year certainly. I might even offer some sort of panel. I've been around long enough; a little research might yield an interesting "modern history of the fandom" panel. For instance, I was surprised at how few people knew what Albedo was,,,

Next weekend there's a furry convention here. They are expecting around 250 people. Idaho isn't really a hotbed of Furry activity so it will be interesting to go see what's what. Given what's popular in this state, one can hope that there's not a Trapper's Association meeting in the same hotel on the same days.

How happy was I to find that Blotch had a presence here on FA! I have known one of that collective's members for a long time, back when she was already an established artist but still finding her wings somewhat in the oddness that is the fandom. Thrilled to see that they are still active and making the con circuits! I hope the raven drops me a note. I wonder if I have more of her early art I could put up; things she did for me way back when.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.