The Bloggers' Exhibit at The Station

Riding a glider at The Station

I am going to be in some special company today. A month ago, Kara Trapdoor asked me to be part of Steampunk Exhibition, otherwise known as The Bloggers' Exhibit, which she was planning for the Skywalk Gallery at The Station.

Kara’s idea was straightforward, and guaranteed to create an interesting exhibition. Gather ten bloggers and ask each to contribute two steampunk theme images, in keeping with the overall nature of the sim.

The Station

I have to admit, considering the low output of my blogging, I feel like a bit of a piker in the crowd she has chosen, putting me alongside bloggers and artists like Ziki Questi, Honour McMillan, Bryn Oh, Bouncer Criss, Burly Tigerpaw, DanteAmore Rossini, Kathy Nikolaidis, Sparkie Cyberstar, and Wicca Merlin.

“Several of the selected bloggers are truly artists in their own right and perhaps blogging is secondary for them,” said Kara in the release describing the show. I guess that’s me. :)

As you might expect from 10 bloggers, the images cover a wide range of styles. For myself, I put together a new avatar, based on The Watchmaker's Brother from The Secret Shelf and some clothing help from Blakopal and Feyline Fashions and set out exploring. 

The exhibit has a grand opening at 1 p.m. May 4 at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Station/182/122/1028 with DJ Kate supplying the music… steampunk attire is suggested, but stovepipe hats will be provided free.

The exhibit isn’t visible from the landing point, but is easily found by following the yellow arrows on the floor through the Shadows in Black and White exhibition, which is running concurrently, as is Technochory by Bryn Oh and Sina Souza.

That’s a lot of art to take in,but when you are done, spare some time for the artistry of The Station itself. I’ve been lucky enough to count the builder, Enigmatic Deir, among my friends almost since I arrived in Second Life. His building skills amazed me then and still do.

The Station shows off both Enigmatic's eye for detail and sense of humour. It’s a highly detailed steampunk styled sim with many sights to see on multiple levels from the landing point in the sky to underwater and many things to play on and with:two clubs, a full carnival with bumper cars, roller coaster, ferris wheel, carousel, multiple game rooms, many couples private areas, underwater show area, freebies around the sim, trains, trolleys, human slingshot, human cannon, airships and gliders to ride and travel in, an impressive fun house and many more attractions.

The Station

Emergency Challenge

A Petrovsky Flux

I found myself filling in as emergency host for the Photohunt challenge in Second Life tonight. So with only a few minutes to get set up, I took the crew to the first sim that popped into my mind: A Petrovsky Flux. 

I gave them Solitude for a theme. This is my personal take on the same subject, though a little more modified than we allow in the contest. 

For those that are wondering, Photohunt is a regular competition in Second Life. Participants are given a sim to work in and an hour to create the best image they can, with no outside modifications (unlike this image). Then we post them and vote to decide on the winners for that session.  

It all happens twice a week: Mondays at 11:30 a.m. SLT and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. SLT., starting from our gallery at Taean.

To the Noobs, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.

-- Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Relaxing on the deck of Ad Astra (my NY-30, designed by Jacqueline Trudeau) off the coast of Appleberry in the Fruit Islands.

This post is in response to +Strawberry Singh's latest blog challenge, Advice for Second Life Newbies. I admit to having fun with the Herrick poem, but the advice is still good.

-- Don't waste a minute of your time in Second Life. This world changes fast, so there is always something so much to see, so many people to meet and fun to have.

As I thought this over, I realized that a lot of real life advice applies to Second Life.

-- Follow your passion. Search out the things you love, you'll find them in SL, and you'll also find communities of people that share the same passions, whether that be sailing, flying, photography, fashion or... you name it.

But there is advice that only applies to SL.

-- Denoob yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being a noob, we all started out that way. But you don't have to stick with the basic avatar, especially when there are lots of businesses offering freebies for folks under 30 (days, that is), so you take advantage while you can.

Start by getting yourself an animation override. SEmotion and Amacci both offer nice ones. Then think about getting yourself dressed. Berry has a lot of great links on her SL newbie resource page, but I would also recommend checking out Fabfree’s 30 days list.

It's important to remember that there are very real people behind those avatars, but don't forget this is a virtual world.

-- You can't be hurt. If your parachute doesn't open when you are skydiving from 4000 metres, don't worry about it. Just dust yourself off and try again. Try lots of things, even if you are convinced you won't be any good at them - you might surprise yourself.

I don't know if my final word qualifies as advice or is just something to keep in mind.

-- SL is about community. This is shared experience on a big scale, but the virtual world is just a part of it. Dive in. SLifers are present in just about ever social every media you can name: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Flickr and countless blogs.

So join us. And welcome.

Single Frame Stories revisited

Challenge 1 - Last Words
"Did you hear the one about..."

Whiskey Monday and Botgirl Questi put Single Frame Stories on hold a while back, but the website and all the images remain, including a few - too few - of mine.

Looking through the images from the 53 weeks of challenges, I thought, why not run through a few of them? So here is my new single frame for the first challenge, Last Words.

It's only about 20 months late. Next challenge is Illumination; let's see if I can get to that one a little quicker.

Flux in Flux

A Petrovsky Flux

I paid a visit to the ever-changing art sim, A Petrovsky Flux today. If you haven't already been inspired to by all the press it has got lately, well, why not?

A Petrovsky Flux

If somehow you have missed the press, I highly recommend checking out Prim Perfect or +Inara Pey's Living in a Modemworld for the current scoop.

A Petrovsky Flux

For some background on this incredible work, try the University of Kansas or Honour MacMillan's 2010 article.

A Petrovsky Flux

Bright Lights/Dark Shadows

This isn't the first time I have exhibited with my partner Derry, but it is the first time we have done so on this scale and purposefully setting out to contrast our very different styles.   

Derry focuses on the colorful and brighter aspects of Second Life while I have a tendency to eliminate all color from my images (Okay, maybe "tendency" isn't quite the right word.) 

Although our styles differ in the extreme, many of the images in this show were taken at the same time on the same sim as we explored Second Life together. (Though it might be a little hard to tell)

Derry's bright and colourful personality comes through in her images, which show her delight with whimsy and fun and the smallest details, though she also strives to make her images as realistic as possible.

"I love it when someone asks if the picture was taken in real life," she says (leaning over my shoulder to check on what I am writing about her.)

For myself, line and form are what an images is all about - colour is a distraction. My goal is to create an emotional response from the viewer - if one of my images make you cry, laugh or just think, I've done my job.  

Bright Lights/DarkShadows opens at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 22 at Timamoon Arts with the eclectic Pippa Exonar singing jazz, blues, and even a few pop songs. 

By the way, it is also a joint rezday party for us. Derry rezzed in seven years ago on March 21, and I am going to be four years old on March 23.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Timamoon%20Arts/115/218/25

B&W Portrait Challenge

I've not blogged anything in a long, long while, but it wouldn't have been right for me not to get in on +Strawberry Singh's Black and White Portrait Challenge.Here's mine, but you can check out the other responses on her original blog post.