I disappeared the first few months of 2020 for a number of reasons, one being focusing on real life and family, another being my plunging health, but primarily it was being gifted access to photos of the surface of Mars in Blender files via @UAHiRISE. It felt like being handed the best happy happy pills on any planet. Me, Kathryn, given access to photos of Mars laid out in Blender in a way I could zoom my camera around and check out the craters and mountains. Incredible! I wish my scientist dad were still around to see them because it was he who taught me to look up! Long story short, I disappeared into long hours of going through file after file, making screenshots of the amazing views. 

Honestly, it felt like the quintessential experience for me, and having spent the last two years learning Blender and making "space ships" I had all the assets ready to start bashing it together. So with my folders full of oddball Blender "buildings" and ships (some purchased), my planets and suns, and the soap swirl photos to create atmospheres, all I needed were images of mountains and spacey looking landscapes. And while it is true I have purchased all of the @photobash.org sets of amazing photos of Earth, nothing could have surprised and pleased me more than being able to use images of Mars. Wow. Just Wow. Mind Blown. 

To create your own Blender files with the Mars images and terrain altimetry, go to the @uahirise website where they explain how to use the DTMs- Digital Terrain Models in Blender. https://www.uahirise.org/dtm/howto.php

And be sure to check out the INCREDIBLE work of @apoapsys Kevin Gill, who is the one who helped me with the uahirise website and Blender files. You have no idea the gift you have given me, Kevin!! Forever my hero! https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmgill/albums

Layered Deposits. Rendered using digital terrain model data from @uahirise. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Kevin M. Gill 

I have started posting some of my 100s of files over on Instagram @katkankan

Hopefully I will be able to romp through these stellar playgrounds for years to come, if I don't go completely blind, or cease to function. At one point recently I thought I was not going to live much longer! YIKES! I was very weak and my mind was overly foggy, even for a person with the "brain fog" of Fibromyalgia. . .

So, if you are Vegetarian, or Vegan in particular, MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING B12. My Autoimmune Disorder was apparently blocking my Intrinsic Factor production causing me to malabsorb what little B12 I was getting from my meatless diet. I was plunging fast into irreversible damage to my eyes and brain causing rapid memory loss along with the extreme fatigue, oxygen deprivation, tingling fingers, and intense pain. Be careful! My all organic planet friendly diet was "frameable" according to one doctor, BUT not friendly to my aging body. I am starting to pull back out by adding B12 supplements, dairy and egg yolks back, even though I have reactions to the histamines which require taking Diamine Oxidase. So I am still here and have found an artform I can still pull off with my bad eyes, short term memory, and painful hands, with a subject matter I am giddy about. SPACE! Photobashing for the win! And who knows, I might be able to actually draw and paint again but for now I am happy to still be alive! 

Stay Safe Out There. Peace.