Cause you're going home
You're running free
As only you would be if you never owed them anything
And now, you found your way out
In the trust you've seen your path on home

Yesterday holds the position in my memory as my greatest day as an artist. I had class around at 9:00 that morning, so I got up around 7:30 so I could take a shower and eat some breakfast before heading out. I have a programmable coffee maker, so at 7:20 I heard the bubbling start. I usually have around 20 minutes or so leftover to play on the computer before I leave. So, with my freshly made coffee in one hand, I sat down to my computer and opened up Firefox.

I usually have a routine in which I check things, which include my Livejournal ( [link] ) and deviantART before pressing StumbleUpon a few times. I just purchased a paid account recently on DA, so I usually spend some time looking through the newest deviations that appear in my selections on the first page, and of course the Daily Devs. But on this day in particular, I was too surprised to do any of that. My inbox had about 50 more messages in it than it did the night before. I was more than a little curious, so checking my inbox I saw that everyone had either favorited or commented on Winter Stock 1. At this point I was still clueless, until I clicked back to the main page and in those few seconds had received several more messages.

I had an inkling as to what had happened, but I didn't want to get my hopes up yet. I clicked on the daily deviations tab, and slowly scrolled down through the list. And there it was. Winter Stock 1 was sitting in the middle of the page, the snow as white as the day it had fallen.

There is some sort of odd method to this madness. I had originally submitted it as a stand alone piece, just titled "The House." But over time I realized more and more that it would make a much better stock piece, so a few weeks ago I reuploaded it.

I would just like to thank [link] for seeing the piece and suggesting it, and [link] for choosing it. Through the processing of visiting their pages, and the pages of others who had favorited me or commented on my image, I have discovered some really excellent artists, many that I will visit regularly and hopefully can keep in touch with.  I also discovered some really amazing stock that I can't wait to use.

Since there are too many people to comment on individually, this is a message to everyone who looked at my image and liked it: Thank you. As an artist the greatest thing you can do is inspire people, and this is the first time I've had a chance to inspire so many people.

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Rules for Stock Use
You can use any of my stock images in your art, as long as there is something considerable done to it. Don't just resize the image and make it a wallpaper, for example. The only other requirement is that you post either on the piece or in my journal telling me that you've used it, and give a link to the page where it is hosted. I'd really like to see what you've done with it. If you wish to use the image commercially, go ahead. However, by using this image, you in no way gain ownership of it. Myself and others can continue to use it in whatever way we please.