My mother paints beautifully. Her house is filled wall to wall with paint cans, bottles, and tubes. There is an air compressor next to the dining room table to power her airbrush. Last Spring, the living room wall had a sheet of canvas covering it while my mother painted a mural of the African savanna for a rich client. My mother encourages me to paint, but I don't have the feel for it. I'm a decent painter, but my work lacks depth and emotion. As a young kid, I did what I could to feel like an artist, so I could fit in with my family. I could draw with pencils quite well in high school and my penmanship in calligraphy gave me much praise. Still, I felt left out in my artistic family. My father sculpts. He can make anything out of a pound or two of plasticine and give it life. He uses dental tools to fine tune the details of his wonderful work; he also uses homemade tools. Whatever works, he'd tell me. I never did more than make cylinders from clay. Yet again, not my happy medium. I have an aunt, who is like a sister to me, that paints portraits. Her work is in galleries and homes everywhere. Like my mother, she inspires me to do art. I love art; it is in my blood. I am twenty-nine years old and until two years ago, I had no way of adequately expressing myself.

In 2005, I came across someone who showed me fractals. My first thoughts were: "These are beautiful. How did you paint them?" Yes, paint. I thought they must have been painted because they're too gorgeous to be complex mathematical equations and algorithms. My friend showed me Apophysis and gave me a brief tutorial on how to use it. I was hooked. I finally had a way to bring to light the feelings and thoughts in my heart. A happy medium. I could achieve artist status and feel unified with my family. The more I learned about fractals and Apophysis, the more I asked how could numbers be doing this? I hardly ever see numbers, I'm moving the transforms by hand. I'm contemplating color gradients with an artistic eye. If one small tweak ruins my new piece, I adjust and try something else. I'm constantly standing back to judge if what I did works or not. I don't press a button and hope for the best. I examine, contemplate, evaluate, judge, yell, clench, and laugh while I make a fractal. I get moody when it looks wrong and happy when I do something I like. I pour my heart and soul into every piece I create.

My mother can't make a fractal and neither can my aunt or dad. We're all artists in control of our chosen medium. We're all artists no matter what process we use to express ourselves. A photographer is an artist and her tool is a camera. A digital painter is an artist and her tool is Photoshop or Painter. A fractalist is an artist and her tool is Apophysis, Ultra Fractal, Tierazon, Fractal Explorer, etc. All of these artists use tools that make the art possible, not making it impossible to be art.

I urge people to learn about other art forms before criticizing them. I don't care for fetish or nude photography, but I wholeheartedly respect it as an art form. It's a tough world, so please don't take away what little color is left by belittling art.