Well, yes. It has occurred to me that my activity here on Deviant-Art in the past few months has been just short of a vegetative state, mostly because some people in vegetative states actually receive communications that are sent to them. I am afraid I have not, my apologies.

I could list a very wide plethora of excuses why I have all but abandoned D-Art; moderate stagnation of my art due to repeated issues with quality control, schoolwork, NaNoWriMo, Skyrim, dabbling in musical and video art (why can't I upload an audio file as art again? All I listen to and therefore create is instrumental...), a couple of months of a minor psychological disorder, et cetera (odd that the abbreviation of that term and not the full spelling is allowed by spell check...). However, I should think any and all watchers that I have should be bored with my excuses by now, so I think that cutting them away is appropriate.

I have no solid reason for being away from DA lately. I do have ethereal reasons. A few selfish reasons too. Maybe an intangible reason. Quite directly: this site, despite the leaps and bounds it has made towards being a haven of toleration and moderation for artists is riddled with hypocrisy. Those artists who display their works in the hope of receiving beneficial critique and supporting evaluation find themselves (drowning) in a sea of self-pitying, angst-ridden, immature, conceited, emoticon wielding pre-teen and teenage doodlers.
If I had a dime for every empty compliment I received during in-person displays of my work, and a dollar for every one I received online, I would be able to retire in ten years in a fixer-upper of a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas with all the tools I could ever want (and all the electrical power to go with them). I have come to the immodest conclusion that I am not receiving the value of my time from this site that I put into making my work appear presentable for online display.

As is my custom, I wish to add a disclaimer, a clarification, a sharp edge to focus upon compared to the bluntness of the rest of my message: I mean no direct critique of those who watch my activity, indeed, many often provide a rich stream of submitted work that sometimes give me inspirations for my own work. Neither do I wish to say that the stereotype is the rule; I quite honestly imagine that there are a great many artists who use DA daily as I once did; for genuine learning and dignified feedback. This journal entry is not such a broad condemnation.

HOWEVER, there is a cancer on Deviant-Art. The digital camera and drawn art has been a great flood upon the other mediums of art. Japanese styles of drawn art, "Fan-art", and ten-minute emotional expressions have pervaded and overwhelmed many classical art forms. As I write this, I can hardly recognize the category of art I prefer to submit to; 'woodworking' has as many errant submissions of non-wooden art (it seems) as works of fine woodworking, and it makes me sick - sick - to see 'keyblade' and other unfinished plywood/MDF mock-swords and sword handles appear there, a category that contains, or could easily contain, works of the finest, most dedicated craft of the whole artisan crafts broader category. That isn't the height of the cancer either! The forums used to divide the arts into their major categories, so that artists could discuss with others in their field what does and does not work - that is now gone, consolidated into four categories, two of which are tied to any one broad category, literature and photography.

So, it seems that there is no longer any room for me here on Deviant-Art. Attribute my attitude to depression if you will, there may be some truth to it, but this site has shown me clear, quantifiable evidence that fine art is not valued, and fine crafts least of all. I feel, with no shortage of evidence occurring even while you the reader reading this in the weeks to come, that I am one of a relatively short list of artist(an)s who struggle to show their hours, even weeks, of work over the plethora of simpleton drawings made during second period math class or aimless snapshots made with undervalued digital cameras. Therefore, I am leaning towards the decision, albeit with some reluctance, to leave Deviant Art altogether.

I joined this community at the behest of my then-girlfriend, then ignorant of the culture of emoticons, abbrevs, and furies (I have since been educated in these details by those intimate in the sub-culture). Needless to say we parted ways, both in art forms (I very much doubt she cares how much crude Anime appears here), and in communication, long years ago. I continued here, changing focus to my inner desire to build, honing my woodworking skills to be one of the finest woodworkers to grace the artisan crafts category here (not that anybody has any kind of scale for this matter). After three and a half years, I have observed a gambit of woodworkers here, from the shoddy to those few who can claim to be my equal or better in knowledge of the subject matter. Now, I feel sorely tempted to take my leave of this hypocrisy - that art should rarely consist of 'fan-based work', and that in fact the very opposite is happening here - fan based work is spotted rarely with focused art.


I have been known as IcyDrake - a pun on he who sees ice dragons - but my name, and that what I wish to be known by is Daniel Lindholm.
I am a woodworker by skill set, but by circumstances of the times, am a photographer, a writer, a film editor, a businessman, a drawer, and above all I am a fine artist.
I have known love and despair here, pride and hypocrisy, generosity and contempt, education and ignorance. What I have taken away is the impression of murk that occurs on the painter's palette after hours of mixing conflicting colors: a melting pot of the masses of undereducated spotted with those who aim to refine themselves.
This is my decision, one I take most seriously, for I feel there are many who wish to have my guidance. I will not destroy this account, nor give it away, I will maintain it for some time to come. I may choose to answer direct questions, and I may upload some of the cream of my work in the future, but I will not be an active participant anymore, not until a hierarchy of quality in submission material can be established here, which I fear never to come.

Farewell.