New World Notes

Today's Second Life Flickr Pick: Stunning Avatar Portraits by Yoli

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Yoli’s “Follow me down where the waters run deep. I’ll let you drown in the worst of me” is beautiful to look at, but the title suggests some malice that we can’t quite see. Still, just looking at the picture, we know there is a story there. Perhaps this is a female Narcissus, so drawn to her own reflection she drowns. However, there is a bit too much movement in the water, the reflection must be distorted or is that the “worst bof me.” The picture is inspired by Joy Oladukun’s “Breathe Again.” Click here to listen.

For more stories that combine beauty and story, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Autumnal Images from the Virtual World

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Isis Barom’s “Snow comes to Cherishville” is a pleasing introduction to the season, It has that storybook quality that suggests all stories have happy endings full of food, friends,, and family. It’s a slow, gentle snowfall that makes for fluffy snowballs. If there are no snow angels to be found, I will be sorely disappointed. [To teleport to Cherishville, click here]

For more lovely landscapes, click here:

Celebrating the Drag Queen Community in Second Life

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Lady Arsenika Satanis’ shot this fab pop art self-portrait. I love her style -- and love to see that drag queens are active in Second Life. Her picture, “Pop Art Fantasy” is the apotheosis of drag queen glamor. It seems appropriate to amplify and honor the beauty and courage of drag queens after this weekend’s tragedy. 

Club Q’s drag show in Colorado Springs had just ended and the DJ had started playing when he was wounded, shot in the back, by a man radicalized and incited by political hate rhetoric. It is painfully ironic that the shooting was at midnight as the Day of Trans Remembrance began. While drag queens are not trans women, they are targeted along with people who are trans by a political party that centers itself on hate. The political strategist behind the current moral panic over drag queens and trans women advocates conflating the two because that makes them sound more frightening. 

As someone who has gone to countless drag shows, lurid is not the word I would use. Fun, glamorous, exciting, hilarious, friendly, warm, and welcoming are more apt descriptions. See for yourself at CLAT Drag Club [To teleport, click here.] The acronym stands for Club Legends Art Theater. Or you could try out the London club Madam Lala’s [To teleport, click here.]

For more Second Life drag artistry, click here:

Friday Fashion: Fun & Fanciful Styles from SL Blogger Karalee Aeon

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Nobody Does It Like Karalee is a fun and fanciful blog, but I may never forgive Karalee Aeon for suggesting it be expressed as the Saralee jingle and introducing a vicious earworm that is going to trouble me for hours. Her post “Amantha” features a delightful woodland sprite, a dragonfly fairy perhaps. She does a marvelous job of making pieces from different creators look like they were made for each other. 

• Wings- [Vaak] Bento Dragonfly Wings
• Outfit- :[P&E]:– Keraves – MEGAPACK @ warehouse
• Umbrella- ~MR~Mushroom Umbrella
• Tattoo 1-+ Abyssal Flower Tattoo FATPACK + {Aii & Ego}
• Tattoo 2- [AERTH]  Saturnalia Body Tattoos @ we love roleplay ends 11/28

For more fantastical fashion, click here:

We Love This SL Tribute to Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya's Viral Fox Photos

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I always love a photo tribute when someone recreates a photo taken by a real life artist or photographer. It’s much more impressive, though, when the person shows the original so we can all appreciate her effort to honor the original while asserting her own point of view into the picture. With “Ladies” you can see Misaki did not do an exact copy, but instead got her inspiration from the original and then changed it up with the poses, a full body shot, and a more subdued lighting with less contrast. If she had linked to the original, her work would have been even more impressive because how else can we recognize the homage? 

To see her inspiration, click here:

This Artist Makes Second Life Screenshots Look Like Dramatic Movie Stills -- And Includes Teleport Links to Where She Shot Them!

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Sare’s photostream has remarkable verisimilitude. The pictures look like they are stills from a movie, a gothic movie like Jane Eyre or Northanger Abbey. Romantic-looking women staring out to see are the grist of gothic. I love how the picture is divided between the earth and the air and water in a nearly perfect diagonal line. The composition is exquisite. This was taken at Birdlings Flat. [To teleport, click here.]

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Friday Fashion Blog: Home & Fashion Shopping Ideas from Her Sketchbook

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Her Sketchbook is a beautiful blog by DanayaRed. It appeals to me a lot. Her recent post "Fox Mist" is just gorgeous. I love the rich color and it’s fun to see someone blogging the outdoors. In particular, the ruin drew me in. I noticed it says “Urgent” on the arch. Is this a very ancient E.R? 

• GOOSE - Elizabeth Arch > Cosmopolitan (Ends on 11/12)
• NOMAD // Old Ruins
• JIAN Gray Fox

For great casual fashion, click here:

Second Life Landscape Photos That Look Like Real World Paintings

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

“Lunaspina“ will have you asking is that real life or is it Second Life? Unfortunately, there are no teleports in life, but there is a teleport to this spot. Is this a She Shed? Is there some weird symbolism in a woman’s “room of her own” being outside the house in the yard.  [Teleport Link, click here] 

For more gorgeous landscapes, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Metaverse Pop Artist Rachelle Slade

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Rachelle Slade loves to play with her screenshots and it shows. I am a fan of pop art so her visual play appeals. The title of this picture is “The secret, I think, is knowing when to stop…” Truer words. She disassembles and reassembles and creates a recognizable and fascinating portrait. She provides a musical soundtrack for every photo. For this pic, it’s "FineShrine" by Purity Ring. To listen, click here. 

For more playing with screenshots, click here:

Fashion Friday: Neva Seljean Puts Stylish SL Ensembles Together on Her Blog Nevamind

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Nevamind is the cleverly named blog started by Neva Seljean. To say she blogs sporadically is a bit of an understatement. She gives us a post every three to four months, but I don’t care that she is infrequent. I love that she wears clothes, real clothes, and that she is an artist at styling. She is not afraid to mix prints or in this case, stripes with plaid. She takes separates from different stores and puts them together into something new and exciting like this gorgeous outfit. And the hair!  Check out Post 003.

• hair: doux - medusa 
• top: emery - helen top (sunset)
• cardigan: giz seorn - paty oversized cardigan (stripe)
• pants: c'est la vie! - tory pants (colour change fatpack)
• shoes: sallie - 8 hole boots (colour change fatpack)

For more great print styling, click here: