New upload in my gallery page:
This luscious inner forest scene is a composite of different forests I’ve seen in my wanderings among the coast ranges of California and Oregon during the rainy season. On the soggiest, foggiest days every tendril of lichen, moss, and fern is stretched out to soak in all it can, and the forest breaths deeply, a phase of the life of the woods few humans venture out to experience.
Indeed, these delicate, spongy lands are best off seldom visited by humans, and it is enough for me to know that they are still out there unmolested. The word “tulgey,” as applied to a forest, has meant more to me than just the “dark, thick, or scary” suggested by online dictionaries, but also ragged, shaggy, mossy, lichenous, wild, and filled with life upon life in every crevice. This is the sort of quality that accrues to forests so deep and wild that they may yet harbor such rare and elusive creatures as jabberwocky or sasquatch.
This coastal western forest scene was rendered with Vue 7 and uses extensively customized plant species to complete this ecosystem including fescue (bunchgrass), fern moss, rock fern, and several lichen species. The virtual chanterelle mushrooms were modelled in full 3D, making one improbably perfect chanterelle with a mesh editor, and using Poser deformers to warp it into more natural shapes from there. Yes, I have seen partial fairy rings of chanterelles, and there are pictures on the web of others. Chanterelles are prized for their gourmet tastiness, and their hidden haunts are kept secret by those in the know.
Image now available as art prints in sizes from cards to 30 inches
