Fractal Painter software first crossed my path in the late 1980’s 0r early 1990’s.

I had been painting with oils for about 20 years, when I first installed Painter on my original legitimate windows computer complete with an original Intel digital video converter board. What a machine! It only cost me about $3500.

This is one my first digital creations.

My first one-man show of paintings at the Everson Museum in 1972 included 14 or 15 huge oil on canvas figure paintings. The face and figure has been a constant inclusion of my work.

Portrait Of Mike Gillings |oil on canvas| about 3.5 x 5 feet | 1972

The immediate fascination with the digital media was the way the colors and forms seemed to immediately blend and evolve right before my eyes. I was able to make completed images in minutes instead of weeks or months.

It was absolutely amazing, even on a dinosaur computer.

I continued to paint with oils then acrylics, though I still used the computer.

Eventually, mainly for health reasons, I quite the physical media and went all in digital. I was able to adapt my god given instinctive painterly style to making digital art,

And I never looked back!

Universal Heart |Digital Image| 2022