Posted on January 24, 2010

• If you’ve been following my posts for the past few days you’ll know that it’s been a trying week for my family. Jason is home now and seems to be almost back to normal. He’s still having nightmares about needles and other hospital unpleasantness, but I imagine that is normal. The hospital can be scary place for a grown up (I know), and I imagine it’s even moreso for a 3 year old.

  He’s running around the house and playing Legos with his brother now so all is well. Thanks again to everyone who wrote, posted, prayed, and sent positive vibes. Thanks also to the doctors and nurses at OSF Children’s Hospital in Peoria, IL.

  I haven’t had much time for artwork this week but I did get a chance to do some rendering Friday. Rather than start in on something completely new (and leave you guys waiting for another week or so) I felt like improving the star I had created for “Muspelheim”.

  I played around with it some more in Lightwave, added some fractal effects courtesy Apophysis, and recast it as the centerpiece in a new space scene (with some abstract touches). I call it “Corona” and it is up now for Members to download.

  If you aren’t a Member yet you are welcome to download a mobile version and try it out on your phone. You’ll find the mobile versions (marked with “FREE”) in the download dropdown menu. I recently made all of my mobile wallpapers free so you can demo my work on your smaller screens and, if you like it, I hope you will consider signing up to access the HD versions for your larger screens.

  The multi-screen of “Muspelheim” is currently rendering on my other box (taking a long, long time for some strange reason) and I hope to have that up soon. I am going to go play with my kids now…

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Posted on January 21, 2010

• A pretty scary 24 hours for the Bliss family. I just got back from the hospital in Peoria (Jessie is staying with Jason) and the news is good. Not all of the tests are back yet, but his hemotologist didn’t think he was suffering from any major blood disorders. They suspect a strong virus, followed by a bacterial infection, caused his bone marrow to shut down.

  He responded well to the transfusion last night and was more like my happy little guy when I saw him today. The doctors say if he continues to improve he will come home tomorrow.

  I would like to thank you all for the prayers and positive energies that have been sent our way over the past 24 hours. They were appreciated and seem to have made all the difference. Now we just need to get him home. . .

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Posted on January 20, 2010

• My 3 year old son Jason started running a fever last Monday (the 11th), just after his Tae Kwon Do class. We got out the usual tools and prepared for battle. By last Wednesday we took him to the doctor (didn’t find anything) and Sunday we took him to the ER. He went from an energetic little chatterbox to never leaving the couch or bed.

  Monday he saw his doctor who gave him some antibiotics and we started hoping for a recovery. It didn’t happen. This morning we took him to the local hospital for some more blood tests and xrays and our pediatrician was so alarmed he ordered Jason admitted to OSF Children’s Hospital in Peoria (about 50 mile away). His hemoglobin had fallen over 1 point from Monday to today.

  There’s a whole host of things that could cause this, ranging from scary to terrifying. The doctors think it is most likely a nasty virus attacking his bone marrow and inhibiting it’s ability to create new red blood cells but they are running tests for things like lymphoma and leukemia.

  I’ve posted a lot of this on the DB Facebook page (because I could do so with my phone) but didn’t have a chance to let the rest of you know until now. There was only room for one parent to spend the night so I came back home and I’m about to collapse.

  If you have any spare prayers to give we would greatly appreciate sending them towards our little guy. This is the first time I’ve had one of my guys be really sick and I must say it is a terrifying experience.

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Posted on January 19, 2010

• I’ve made the mobile versions of my work free to all. The Droid files (which are pretty hi-res) are going to remain Members-Only, along with the ability to download the zip collections of each mobile resolution.

  To access the mobile file simply select the size you want from the download dropdown (no login required), allow it to load in your browser and then save it to your phone or your computer to sync over later.

  If you like my work on your mobile device I hope you will think about signing up for the hi-res versions. The smaller versions give you a general picture but I like to throw in details that you can only appreciate at higher resolutions.

Posted on January 18, 2010

• My artwork was mentioned on the BBC’s “ClickBits” segment last week. Here’s the link if you’re interested (mention comes around the 2 min mark). Thanks to Patrick Biggs of NZ for sending me the link!
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