Dragonfly

At the moment, I’m reading a series of fantasy books about insect kinden (The Shadow of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky) – and therefore, this dragonfly necklace available at The Fashion Garret immediately caught my eye. The book is the typical fantasy story – band of unlikely hero goes up against the big bad – but it is done a bit more clever than most and the idea of insect kinden really makes it new and fresh. I must admit that SL has severely limited the time I spend reading but this series is slowly pulling me back into books and I’m happy about that. Now, I just need to find the balance between reading and SLing – I don’t want to loose either one.

This outfit also embodies a bit of guilt. See, I’m wearing my fatpack shoes – and I … well, I couldn’t decide on which color to get the dress in and since I love League, I kind of just went for the fatpack of dresses too. And this dress really is amazing. I’m not sad at all that I got it as a fatpack – I love the soft muted colors of it. It reminds me of Fishy Strawberry colors as well – and I love Fishy Strawberry too so this is perfect for me.

What I’m wearing:

• Dress & belt: Vintage Chiffon – Nena Janus for *League* (Available at CH1C)
• Necklace: Dragonfly Necklace – Apple May Designs (Available at The Fashion Garret)
• Shoes & socks: Maitreya Gold Moxie (Violets) and Over-Knees (purple) – Onyx LeShelle for  Maitreya
• Hair: Inverted Hair (FireTop) – Thora Charron for Lelutka
• Tattoo (face): AITUI Tattoo Stars 02 Face Tat – female fit – boy of crows (Jesseaitui Petion) for Aitui
• Eyes: ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Ikon Innovia for FASHISM
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate – copper brows – freckles) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Bodyshape 1 (Avie) – Emilia Redgrave for REDGRAVE (modified by me)

Location: Pompano Island

Bikini time!

Well, the sun is shining here – it’s a beautiful day and even though the water here isn’t warm enough, you can always find a SL beach where the water is just perfect.

A bikini from Boom is an excellent choice if you don’t want to buy a lot of bikinis. (Of course, you know, I did buy a lot of bikinis – but I blame it all on Viki. We’ve just thrown about 20 bikinis out of her bikini collection so now she has only 40 left…! If there was a bikini war, Viki was on the winning side!) Boom bikinis come with a lot of option – boyshorts, thong, halter top, bikini top … So you can kind of mix it so your bikini get to be how you like it. I’m wearing bikini top and thong.

And of course, if you’re going to the beach, you need sunglasses and a pair of flipflops or something similar.

What I’m wearing:

• Bikini: Infinity Hibiscus Bikini – Ara Ultramegaforce (aranel ah) for *BOOM*
• Sunglasses: Armelle Diva Sunglasses (Black) – djod Karu for DIRAM
• Necklace: african long necklace – Julia Merosi for je suis
• Flipflops: flipflop flowers (black) – Liesa Herzbrun for LH clothing
• Tattoo: AITUI TATTOO – Zodiac – ASF Taurus I – Jesseaitui Petion for Aitui
• Hair: Dylan (Jealous Red) – Parvarti Monday for fri.day
• Eyes: ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Ikon Innovia for FASHISM
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate – copper brows – freckles) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Bodyshape 1 (Avie) – Emilia Redgrave for REDGRAVE (modified by me)

Location: Visiwa (“The Islands”) – supposedly SL’s most realistic beach.

Oh and a closeup of the shoes – please don’t look at my ugly toes. Just look at the flipflops!

Use Your Shoes Challenge: 3 pair of shoes blogged – 49 to go…

Requiem for Fukushima Daiichi

The Requiem For Fukushima is of course inspired by the nuclear catastrophe in Japan in March 2011.

“Requiem for Fukushima” is a dramatic build of sinister beauty inspired by the Fukushima catastrophe in Japan. Housed inside a pyramid shell, it contains lurid plants, flames, billowing black smoke, and burning cinders. Even the rocks are glowing. Max your particle count!
(from the artist’s blog)

To enter this art piece is a quite sobering experience. It’s very beautiful but the beauty is a deadly beauty, caused by one of the worst nuclear catastrophes so while you are reveling in the beauty, you are also perfectly aware that this is a beauty that ought not to be. The experience of entering this 360 degrees landscape is haunting and thought-provoking, lovely – but cruel.

Yet, you still find yourself feeling joyful in the beauty – that even in such a devastating disaster, some kind of beauty can be found.

The Requiem for Fukushima as well as some other wonderful art pieces are all made by the artist Alizarin Goldflake, who make immersive art – I quote from the artist’s statement:

My main form is Immersive Art, so-called because the viewer is meant to enter the work either by avatar or camera.  The art is made of nested prims, digital textures, and scripts.  Many of the builds have poses and sounds in them.  The point of the art is the kaleidoscopic interaction of the textures, as well as the different  moods expressed in the pieces.  Some of the sculptures emit extra-large particles, which are actually highly-detailed digital drawings.

Before visiting the Requiem, I visited some of the other pieces of immersive art – all very interesting!

And my favorite immersive art installation – loved to dance in this one:

I apologize for the not so good quality of these images but they’re taken on the laptop, not my desktop. Darn this annoying back and bedrest thing!

Anyways, it’s definitely worth to go and see these and play around a bit as well as enter a much more somber mood when visiting the Requiem itself.

You can see more on the artist’s blog here.

Moody

Feeling a bit moody …

My friend – the best enabler in SL – Viki recommended I went to Insanya for some retail therapy to cheer me up and she was right – bought this dress and a pair of capris and felt better. Then I went to my favourite place in SL – World’s End Garden. It’s being changed right now so looking forward to seeing what it will look like when they are finished with it.

Instead, I went to The Docks – a place I’ve been meaning to visit for a long time and it’s amazing, although small. Totally worth it! It gives me a Van Gogh kind of vibe and I love Van Gogh so it was a perfect fit for me both to cheer me up, but also to take some moody pictures in. The Docks is made by Scottius Polke, an artist I’ve seen work of before and really like.

What I’m wearing:

• Dress: Cotton Shirt Dress (Soil) – Tatyana Ultsch for Insanya
• Fishnets: Fishnet Tights (Black ripped) – Annyka Bekkers for Blowpop
• Stockings: Side-Gartered Stockings (Brown – black garter) – Nena Janus for *League*
• Boots: Combat LOL  – Filthy Adored for Bottle Bird (Available at  Shoe Fair)
• Necklace: Dogtags – Tonk Tomcat for Tonktastic
• Makeup: Runny 3 – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Hair: Action Womens Hair Heather (fire) – Action
• Eyes: ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Ikon Innovia for FASHISM
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate – copper brows – freckles) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Bodyshape 1 (Avie) – Emilia Redgrave for REDGRAVE (modified by me)

I have to say I might have been a bit unfair the other day when talking about Bottle Bird‘s Fritillari pumps. I went back to  Shoe Fair to look for something else and decided to visit Bottle Bird’s booth to see the vendor pictures – and it was me remembering incorrectly. The shoes I’ve bought look like the ones in the vendor photos so my bad. Today I’m wearing a pair of combat boots from Bottle Bird and they are very, very cool indeed. Big and chunky and abused and with strings tied around them to keep them on – love them! They’re just right!
Also – have to mention the hair. It’s from Action, for both men and women, and I just love it. It even has the perfect name – pineapple!

So although I look sad in the pictures, I’m happy again 🙂

Gaia Rising

So a couple of days ago, I went to Gaia Rising to explore this sim. It’s a very beautiful place with some lovely landscapes – but I came with a clear purpose. I had heard that you could sort of go on a spiritual journey here and get an animal guide. So this was what I came looking for.

And I did find a place where you could do this – you connected to a mp3-file on the internet so I sat down, closed my eyes and settled into the experience. Now, this involves visualization and I’ve always been lousy at that. I get images in my head but they are there only briefly, then I narrate them away, sort of. But I did go on the spiritual journey and I did discover an animal guide and the experience didn’t turn out like I had expected it to so although I’m not sure what to think about paganism and this kind of spirituality, I did take something from it and could easily go again to explore Gaia Rising in more depth and also take this journey again.

Besides, Gaia Rising is a beautiful sim.

What I’m wearing:

• Dress: Boheme (Pop Squares) – Maylee Oh for The Secret Store
• Boots: Curvaceous Boot (Pink) – Gospel Voom for Gos
• Necklace: Groovy Peace Necklace (Multi) – Abraxxa Anatine for EarthStones
• Wrist Warmers: Wrist Warmer (Brown Leather) – Ivey Deschanel for Sn@tch
• Hair: Cameron (jealous red) – Parvarti Monday for fri.day
• Makeup: Glitter eyes3 – Steffi Villota for DeeTaleZ
• Eyes:  ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Ikon Innovia for FASHISM
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate – copper brows – freckles)) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Bodyshape 1 (Avie) – Emilia Redgrave for REDGRAVE (modified by me)

On Safari (Cap Estel Goes Safari)

… or at least walking around in a safari sim – Cap Estel. A beautiful sims with rhinos, giraffes, lions, ostriches and lots of other animals. There’s also snakes so be careful when walking here.

This is a beautiful place to go exploring – as well as try out what it feels like to ride a giraffe …

Lions sharing a meal:

So what did I decide to wear for this wee bit of exploration?

Well, a big hat to cover up from the sun, sunglasses, boots for walking – and a pretty little dress. This dress is a really cute little pink flowery thing from Elemiah Design. I ran into Elemiah Choche at The Dressing Room Blue, loved the dress she was wearing, so I checked out her profile and got the link to her blog where I saw more pretty dresses. I complimented her on her clothes, we chatted a bit and she was kind enough to give me this one as a blogger’s copy. She has some great stuff at Chic Limited too so check out both her store and Chic Limited if you are a flower girl – well, if you like dresses …

What I’m wearing:

• * Dress: Biha – Elemiah Choche for Elemiah Design
• Fishnets: Fishnet wide (white) – Erratic Rain for erratic
• Stockings: Striped socks (purple-white) – Erratic Rain for erratic
• Boots: Docs (8 hole F Black – fuchsia polish – black laces – loose) – by Gospel Voom for Gos
• Jewelry: Glow Studio Lace Flowers Necklace (creme) – [ glow ]
• Sunglasses: Ottico numero 75 – Youki Rau for Ottico
• Hair: Macaron (Fiery red) – Gia Pawpad for LoQ Hairs (The Dressing Room Blue Exclusive)
• Makeup: Rosy Nose1 – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Eyes: ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Ikon Innovia for FASHISM
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate – copper brows – freckles – lips sweet)) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Bodyshape 1 (Avie) – Emilia Redgrave for REDGRAVE (modified by me)

Kind of Grungy – and art!

I bought these boots a few days ago and I just couldn’t figure out what to wear with them – I think I’ve tried them with just about everything in my inventory. Then today I saw this new skirt from Fishy Strawberry and the scarf from Pixelfashion and I thought – yes! So here goes – loving it and had fun putting it together so

What I’m wearing:

• Skirt: Aragon Skirt (nude) – Fae Eriksen for Fishy Strawberry
• Top: Primavera Fishnet Tanktop – nekonuko Nakamori for *Cat’s Eye* (from Summer Dress Purple outfit)
• Shirt: Catawampus Asymmetrical – Nyte Caligari for NyteNDay
• Scarf: Sandy Scarf Brown – Amandine Arai for :)(: PIXELFASHION
• Glove: Seppel armwarmers (Zuccini) – Lynaja Bade for Concrete Flowers
• Boots: Kimiko Urban High Heels – Tera Gearz for Dirty Lynx
• Hair: Molly (Scarlet) – Kavar Cleanslate for Exile
• Hair Base: Red Hair Base (v2) – Amesha Jewell for Heartsick (Fashion for Life Hunt)
• Skin: Emma (fair, 06 Slate) – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Shape: Emma – Tuli Asturias for Tuli
• Eyes: ‘Sunrise’ Eyes (Deep blue) – Fashism (bought at Fashion for Life. Fashism hasn’t got a store in-world yet.)

Oh, and I wore this outfit to my friend oona’s exhibition opening tonight at Pirates – she gave out free gas masks and I couldn’t help snap this shot:

Here’s some info about the exhibition – and it’s awesome so go check it out (from oona’s notecard):

You are sleeping,………….. you do not want to believe……….you are sleeping,………you do not want to believe…… You are sleeping,………….. you do not want to believe……….you are sleeping,………you do not want to believe……You are sleeping,………….. you do not want to believe……….you are sleeping,………you do not want to believe……  . ……………………………………….There are two levels to this installation. the TP for the second level is at the end of the tunnel. Here also is your last chance to grab the free gas mask created by Fire Mavinelli ,before you enter the Toxic Zone…you have been warned!…Please set your viewer to midnight , turn off your music player and have sounds on ……full volume. if you can stand it 🙂

But beware – oona is a tricky one and it takes some skill and effort to reach the top. It’s totally worth it though. For me, this is definitely an installation I’ll come back to quite a few times in the month it stays open!

It’s raining … sighs …

A couple of days ago, it was raining. I walked around with my umbrella all day. After a few days of spring, I was beginning to look for spring clothes – and getting ready to shop more importantly – but now it’s raining again, the wind is actually howling and it feels like late late autumn. So while I refused to go back to winter clothes, I did put on a shrug over my shirt and I got the umbrella out.

What I’m wearing:

• Jeans: Purple Jeans ripped – Enya Meriadoc for .:DaMa
• Boots: Thecla Boots (sea) – Jackal Ennui for Lassitude & Ennui
• Shirt: Good things shirt (blue) – Enya Meriadoc for .:DaMa
• Shrug: Minishrug (lavender) – Ophelia Demina for *BOOM*
• Bag: Kawaii Baggu – Maya Levane for Tokidoki
• Umbrella: Black Umbrella – Fraülein Edelman for Old Time Prims (got it free at Marketplace)
• Hair: Nadine 2 (cranberry) – Truth Hawks for Truth Hair

But rainy days don’t stop me from exploring and I went to two places that both really just spoke to me – but on very very different levels. Let’s take the serious one first.

I went to Gracie Kendal’s 1000+ Avatar project and it’s just amazing. I’ve looked at it at the blog but to stand in the middle of it and look at all the pictures of avatars around you, the scope of this thing is just mind-blowing. Especially because I don’t think there are two look-alikes anywhere. Now, I know that we have all the choices in the world – but still. To see all the creativity in that place – wow. I’m so impressed by the amount of avatars Gracie has gotten to join in – and everybody should just go see this place. The sooner the better – and then come back and look again and again.

And the second place I went – well, that is definitely not for everyone. Nope. Not at all. But it did bring out both my inner fan girl, my child of the 80s memories and the remembrance of  … let’s call it obsessive collecting.

See the thing is – I have an obsession. Or at least had an obsession. (It’s not all bad – it led to collection being the theme of my Master’s Thesis.) The obsession concerns My Little Ponies – particularly the ones which came out in the 80s. I love them. Not as much as I did – at least I don’t surf Ebay every day any more. So when I found a My Little Pony avatar shop – I just had to go. And I knew exactly which pony I had to get. So here I am – as Firefly, my all-time favorite My Little Pony.

Now I know, I know that I’ve stated that I wanted to be me – and being a My Little Pony isn’t quite fitting into what I’ve said so far. But I don’t think that I’m going to use it. At least not now. But I just had to have it. It’s not a perfect avatar but if you would like your own pony avatar, get it here (third floor).

Art Hunt (part 2)

Well, finally I got around to continuing my art hunt. Now, this takes forever for me to do because I look at everything wherever I go.

In this round, I got to go to some really amazing galleries. I love this hunt because I get to visit these very different galleries that each have their own voice, their own type of art. Of the more traditional galleries, I loved Cadeling and Vespertine.

Let’s start with Cadeling Gallery since it was the first I visited. I had had trouble finding Cadeling Gallery by using the search. Luckily the hunt provided a LM because I was happy to visit. Cadeling is – at least at this time of year – a very peaceful gallery. You can sit quiet and contemplate while watching the snow falling. And I liked the art as well – especially the art by Ling Serenity. Luckily, the piece given out by this gallery was one of my favorites, a piece I would have come back and bought later. Still, I will definitely return, both to sit and relax but also to buy some more pieces.

Sighs – Vespertine Gallery… What can I say? I loved it! This is the kind of art where you stop in front of each piece and just let your mind flow, you get inspired to dream and reflect. I love art like this and I made a very long wishlist while walking around in this gallery. I definitely want to buy some of Talullah Winterwolf’s pieces because they are so inspiring to look at and be drawn into. The building itself was this bare brick style with amazing windows – kind of made you think of an old factory converted into art gallery.

I wanted to show you my favorite piece – but when I started looking at all the pictures I took, I realized that to show one piece and claim it as my favorite is impossible. So this is just one of the pieces I liked. Talullah Winterwolf works with layering because it resembles the way our memories are layered on top of each other and thereby influencing each other.

My third love was Project Z – especially Scottius Polke’s Mushroom Interactive Illustration. First of, when I just saw the poster, it made me think of one of Van Gogh’s paintings of the bedroom in the yellow house where he lived with Gaugain. And I loved Van Gogh so I was looking forward to seeing this.

Turned out, that when I got there, I forgot Van Gogh and felt completely like Alice in Wonderland. This is a really fun interactive art piece where you get to be very small in a big room. You can sit your small self in a big rocking chair, dance with amoebas, lie on (smelly) socks and more. It’s all very cool and I liked it a lot.

Finally, Trailer Trash. I really used a lot of time here. First, just admiring the installation and looking at everything and trying to grasp what the artist, oona Eiren, wanted to express. Remember to set your settings to midnight at this place (but also play a bit with the light – it looks so different when you change settings). And listen to the sounds. It’s really hard to take pictures of this but I just wanted to give you a glimpse. Secondly, looking for the hunt item. Turned out the hunt is actually over so oona had taken it down – luckily for me, she was actually there while I visited so I got to talk with her, very interesting!

I also just want to mention the art of Feathers Bay Gallery. This gallery had some great pieces which transformed as you walked towards them. I loved how it reacted to your proximity and used SL to the fullest. Not possible in real life (well, maybe it is but not quite like this, I don’t think).

For me, the Art Hunt was a really great hunt. It wasn’t very difficult which meant that you had time to really enjoy the artworks and the buildings. I also took some time to walk in several of the neighborhoods of the galleries since often the neighbors were also galleries and I got to do some great shopping as well in small boutiques around the galleries. I loved visiting the galleries and seeing all the different artist styles and I was really happy that so many different artists were together in this. I’m definitely going to visit several of the galleries again and I’m very grateful to the whole Art Hunt team. And thanks for the great art! Some really cool pieces in between!

What I’m wearing:

• Jeans: Ripped78s (Dark Warm Blue) – by Nena Janus for *League*
• Shirt: Lulu top concord – by Janie Marlowe for Jane
• Tank top: Intrinsic tank (blue powder) – by Janie Marlowe for Jane (free gift)
• Shoes: Pumps (Violet-Pink) – Onyx LeShelle for Maitreya (Group Gift Pumps)
• Scarf: Wrap-Stripes Cool – by Nena Janus for *League*

Yes, I know I reuse a lot of the stuff I wear right now but I have a couple of reasons for that. First of, I love the stuff – my jeans for instance are just so cool and perfectly ripped. Second, I actually find it hard to find this type of laid-back and very casual clothes. Maybe I haven’t found the right stores yet but I don’t really think that’s it. I think that with all the possibilities we have in Second Life, most people don’t want to wear just a simple shirt, tank top and jeans – they want excitement and extravaganza – what most of us doesn’t have in real life. And I don’t blame them – hopefully, I will evolve together with my avatar in a way so she also can take full advantage of the very cool stuff you can get! (Just want to mention that Jane is a great place to get basic stuff like tank tops, stockings, scarves …)

Anyway, this was supposed to be a post about art so I’ll shut up about clothes. We’ll take the casual clothing discussion some other time!

Read the first post about I ❤ Art Hunt here.

(And btw, Cadeling Gallery looks nothing like when I first visited it – spring has come (but it’s still beautiful and peaceful):

Innsmouth

After all the recent fuzz about my virtual identity, I decided to take a small break from thinking of it all and just enjoy SL for what it also can be. I decided to venture out exploring – I went to Innsmouth. Now Innsmouth may not normally be the first choice for a vacation spot but I’ve promised a friend to go there for quite a while now so it was about time. Now this friend – he isn’t a SL resident (yet) so let’s call him the philosopher – knows everything about H.P. Lovecraft, the man who wrote the short story ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ that brought the town to life. The philosopher has read everything H.P. Lovecraft has ever written – including all his letters! – and he was curious to see what Innsmouth looked like in SL so I promised to take lot of pictures.

Now, Innsmouth lies at the coast in New England and has some dreadful weather with rain and fog so I got some new clothes before heading up there. Got out my favourite jeans and boots and then added a new coat, a tank top and a scarf and some gloves to keep warm.

What I’m wearing:

• Jeans: Ripped78s (Dark Warm Blue) – by Nena Janus for *League*
• Boots: Docs (8 hole F Black) – by by Gospel Voom for Gos
• Stockings: Opaque Yellow Amortentia Stockings – by Allegory Malaprop for Schadenfreude
• Tank top: Intrinsic tank (bk. charcoal) – by Janie Marlowe for Jane
• Coat: Wool plaid coat – by Dolce Blackflag for Pixel Dolls
• Scarf: Loop de lop scarf (pr. lilac) – by Janie Marlowe for Jane
• Gloves: Sheepskin Mittens (purple) – by Nena Janus for *League*

And then I was ready to venture into the (almost) desolated town of Innsmouth…

When you arrive in Innsmouth you are given notecards. One with a general introduction, an overview of the story and some info from Wikipedia – this note also includes Windlight settings. These makes the place look amazing – check the picture above! However, for me it got to dark to navigate around when using these setting and the appropriate time of day so I changed that to be able to see.

The other three notecards contain the entire short story ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ by H.P. Lovecraft.

In one of the buildings in the center of town, there are a small shop selling various clothes to use when roleplaying in this area – as well as The Necronomicon (very cheap!). Probably not a good idea to buy this book …! I at least hurried away when I saw it!

Enjoy your trip to Innsmouth! Remember to bring warm clothes and solid boots!