Welcome to 2009

I'm going to try to do better. Really!

I am planning on creating a short series of tutorials to give insight into the lighting tools in SL, that will help you make better pictures. I will publish them here.

Here is a picture I took, using only Second Life lighting. This is a raw picture with no post-processing at all.

Over the next week or two, I will publish tutorials to introduce you to various lighting techniques using light sources, the SL sun, and the environment editor. Hopefully, it will help you create the best possible pictures.

Dear Cannery Artists

Earlier this week, I wrote a letter to all the artists of the Cannery show "A Different Light". The show was a success in terms of the quality of the art there, and if the art is still up, you should take a look at it. It was a failure in my efforts to get events happening there, get people more involved, etc.

There is currently an event planned for mid-month ... a party, an award ceremony. My friend Vint Falken is planning it. I will attend and help to give out awards, if there are any.

However, my association as curator has ended with Rezzable. My resignation was effective March 31st. I hope to participate in future shows as an artist, but not in a position of responsibility there.

My attentions are now with Avatrait, where I am a member of the Board. I did not have the attention to deal with both. Avatrait is actively seeking talented SL artists. I'll post more about this later.

Best regards to all of you, my friends. I am very glad I had the opportunity to help some of you get your work shown.

A Different Light - Opened!

Jaid at the opening of "A Different Light"

Wow, what an adrenalin rush. I love show openings.

Yesterday, at the Cannery Gallery, Vint Falken and I opened a new show called "A Different Light". What you will see there is but a fraction of the awesome art that was submitted. We wanted to show you a different view of Second Life.

Imagine that the world is a rabbit. A Great Magician pulls the rabbit out of a hat now and then, and the rabbit sees the world. Now, imagine you are a flea on the rabbit. You live in the deepest part of the hairs of the rabbit, close to the skin where it is warm. You don't need to see the universe that is beyond the rabbit, that you can never reach and have no interest in. It is comfortable where you are.

Now, imagine that you are an adventurous flea. You want to see the universe on those rare occasions when the Magician pulls the rabbit out of the hat. You climb up the rabbit hairs and wait there, poised, waiting for a bit of the universe to be revealed to you. *

The concept behind the show is this: There are many different types of people in Second Life. Some people are into being "furry" or mechs; some are into re-experiencing their childhood; some are into slavery; some are into making new friends. Do I want to do some of those things, experience what it is like to be adored or spurned because of my appearance? No. I have a lovely avatar for a reason. However, imagine what it would be like to be a child again .... you see a firefly for the 10th time and you are filled with wonder. It is at that moment that you see the universe that the Great Magician is presenting for us.

So, take off your comfortable skin and come wander down the paths. Come see the universe through someone else's eyes.

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* Note: Special thanks to Jostein Gaarder for his outstanding book of juvenile fiction: Sophie's World, originally published in Norwegian in 1991.