_{Apophysis 2.07b | GIMP | FastStone Image Viewer}

Here's some words of advice. Never send a flame intended as a print to render at 1:30 AM without first doing a few tests. I had several other flames similar to this one so I thought, what the heck, it will be fine! I'll just make sure to turn the brightness down so I can edit it later in GIMP. Great idea. I finish the render, took one look at the finished piece and grimaced. Way too dark and the gradient didn't quite suit the flame in a large resolution as it had in the small preview window. I spent some time in GIMP, and later FastStone, brightening up the render. I made a conscious decision to leave the piece with exaggerated hotspots because I had already had decided on the title earlier and I thought the brightness fit sort of well.

Anyway, to the piece itself. Before I moved to Iowa about five years ago, I had always lived in coastal regions. I had heard of, but never seen, an ice storm until I lived here. There was one last year and another a week ago. The aftermath is both incredibly beautiful and very frightening. (Falling ice from trees really hurts and walking is absolutely awful.) If I had a better camera, I would have taken pictures of the trees, which are by far the most beautiful victims of ice storms. They are also quite hazardous as the tree's branches become very brittle from the cold and ice.

I could wax poetic over how snowflakes and trees are both natural fractals and during the storm they united in one composition, but I'll spare you.