"Winter Blues by Rawnie Lane jumped out at me because it makes me think of those old woodcuts or linocuts. This would make an excellent Christmas card," Cajsa tells me. She also admires its proportions of white to blue: "We often thing of the Golden Ratio in terms of the spiral, the nautilus shell being the perfect example, but it also applies to lines as in this case. We use the rule of thirds because it's easier math, but the rule of thirds is just a way to approximate the even more organic recognition of Pi."
We reached out to Rawnie to find out how she managed to make a screenshot look like a woodcut, but no response at press time. Cajsa has an educated guess:
"While this is technically a Halloween challenge," she tells me, "these are not costumes, these pictures are explorations of the macabre. These pictures also challenge our ideas of what can be done in Second Life. Some of the pictures are unsettling and are definitely not for the faint of heart, but they all speak to our atavistic fear instincts. The thing about our primal fears, they are there 365 days a year, not just on All Hallow's Eve."
"I like this photo from Cataleya because who has not fallen asleep working away on a blog post, their Second Life open. I love how she is illuminated by the laptop and the naturalism of the light, the lap in the corner giving depth to the room." And I love how it's an image of being AFK in Second Life created with a Second Life image.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Here’s submissions to the Families Belong Together challenge, in which virtual world artists sought to convey through 3D imagery the horror and outrage of the Trump Administration’s policy separating migrant parents seeking asylum from their children. In the weeks since the challenge was announced, a court order has required reuniting these families, but hundreds remain separate, perhaps permanently.
I am moved by Whiskey Monday’s “The End of the Road” [above] with the many hands reaching for the children’s toys. I was curious when she asked on Plurk for folks to share any toys they may have. Knowing Whiskey, I knew it would be a picture that tells the story on many levels. The children are unseen, hidden in the dark, reflecting how they were transported under cover of darkness, whisked out of state to be secreted beyond their parents’ reach.There is this black wall with little holes through which the children reach for their stolen childhood, represented by the toys out of reach. Among the toys, an infant’s bottle, reminding us how very fragile and young these children are.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
I wonder if Juneteenth should be a national holiday. If it were, would people completely forget why it matters and spend the day on food, firecrackers, and merchandising? How many people are aware that June Nineteenth marks the de jure, if not de facto, liberation of the slaves in the Confederacy? Seeking whatever tenuous hook on which I can hang a story, I thought this Juneteenth might be a good time to celebrate Black avatars in Second Life. Of course, Juneteenth is an American holiday and I have no idea where these avatars originate. They might even be White in their first lives for all I know. Nonetheless, as New World Notes has noted before, SLife can be as racist as RLife at times, so why not take this opportunity to show appreciation for some of the best of Black Second Life.
“Portrait *1” by ßєηנι is a great photo. I love how the light comes from behind, though we can still see his face. His braids are fabulous. See the glint of light highlighting individual twists in his braids. I like the beard as well.
Interestingly enough, one of the ways African Americans are shut out of some occupations such as law enforcement is the requirement that applicants be clean-shaven. Black men are much more likely to get in-grown hairs from shaving and more likely to get serious scarring. Many choose to grow beards, but then are denied job opportunities, an example of when people do not knowingly set out to discriminate, but because white norms are considered universal norms, they do.
I love “The Lost Chronicles of the Oatsmills: Spring BBQ with Pilar” from ZoeyNova Oatsmill. In particular, I love her natural hair. One of the great things about mesh is avatars can wear natural hair without those awful flexi-alpha glitches that made them look bald in front of a window. Black women and natural hair is another example of where we, by defining white norms as society-wide norms, end up discriminating without necessarily thinking “hmm, how do I write a personnel policy that discriminates.” It can be accidental, but then we recognize our fault when we accidentally step on someone’s toe, so we should do the same when we accidentally create a policy that harms people.
“Blue” by Malaika Paris takes my breath away. First, her avatar looks uncannily like one of my close first life friends, similar hair, face shape, and ebony skin but several years younger. I convinced a couple other friends of mine who are Black to join SL back in 2007, but they were disappointed in the quality and variety of black skins back then and left the game. It’s true, most skins were shades of bronze, and a deep ebony like this one would be hard to find. I love the way the highlights define this picture so powerfully, the highlights on her hair, her face, and her top. A skin designer told me back then that the reason skinners didn’t make dark black skins is that people didn’t buy them and people didn’t buy them because they didn’t know how to photograph them. That is certainly not Malaika Paris’ problem. She shows how it is done.
This reminds me of yet another example of unconscious bias. From the 40s through the 90s, color film was calibrated to Shirley cards, based on white skin tones. (See above) Even digital cameras search for lightness. When I Google my friend (a local activist and politician) so many of her photos are recognizable, of course, but not right. Her skin has a blue undertone but the photos show a yellow tone and photos never capture the rich, deep ebony of her skin. I wish Malaika could take a picture of her.
Okay, so I chose “Lol look who joined in Yoga with me” by Jaira Saanvi Ira because she made me laugh. The person who made dogs who do yoga is a genius. I was going to mention how fun this picture is, but since I am on a roll and some folks already have their hair on fire, I might as well tell you that no, your dog is not racist.
I love “Always keep some mystery” from Sonyv SL. I like the bold diagonal covering a third of the photo. Diagonals are powerful at directing our eyes, so are contrasting light and dark tones and that also gives a powerful effect to this photo. I love his photostream and dithered for an hour beweetn this picture and “When art meets strength”
Wow! “To Higher Places” by NokKirax is all about strength. Sometimes “breaking the rules” by centering a photo, you can express something iconic. Of course, the raised chin and the light shining down on the avatar all add to the beauty of this extraordinary photo.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Whiskey Monday has been sharing her unique vision of Second Life-based imagery on Flickr for the past six years. From the beginning, as shown above by this 2012 photo above, “Constant Conversation”, she was experimenting and defining the motifs that will be a constant during her ongoing development as a surrealist. Over the years, she has refined her aesthetic to the point that her photos are instantly recognizable as hers, and hers alone. I have always seen her as an inheritor of Andrew Wyeth, or Wyeth if he fully indulged his surreal tendencies.
Most people think of “Christina’s World” when they think of Wyeth. He is considered a realist and surely the experts know best. But then, how do you explain “No Trespassing?” When you look at his works, you can see how he strips away the unnecessary. That realistic environment is an abstraction of what was really there. He also finds these linear planes in a natural world and exploits them so there is this uneasiness in his world.
Whiskey shares her color palette with Wyeth, and the spareness of her work and her use of horizontal and vertical planes remind me of him. Take a look at the lines of “Pentacost” or the static tension of “Young Bull” and to me, it seems self-evident: If Wyeth were a liberal surrealist in a virtual world rather than a conservative realist IRL, he would be producing art very like Whiskey Monday.
Whiskey is a friend. Nearly every interview I have done for this column has been with people I do not know. My first contact is a “Can I interview you?” Flickr message. It’s so much easier to interview strangers because I am not worried whether my questions will sound silly or whether someone will think my connecting them to Wyeth is hare-brained. But I went ahead and asked anyway.
How would you describe your Second Life art? What movements would you say have the most influence on you?
I would describe my own SL art as personal. Even though I put it out there for others to see, I create it mostly for me. It’s weird, off balance, full of conflict, and one of a kind – just like me. I am drawn to surreal art in all worlds, because in many ways surreal feels more realistic to me. Surrealism is about conflict and to me, the best art reflects conflict well.
I sometimes think that if Andrew Wyeth were a surrealist, he might have created works like yours. Does that make any sense to you?
YES. Thank you! The Wyeth family of work has been a constant influence in my entire life. And really, Andrew Wyeth is a surrealist of sorts. The world he paints is slightly askew in its way. Any chance I get to visit Wyeth works in person, I take it. Andrew’s works are even more surreal in person. And Jamie Wyeth is one of my all-time favorite artists. His work is even more surreal and haunting.
NEXT: Whiskey responds to Trump's election -- and a glimpse of Whiskey's IRL
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
While Summer does not officially start for a few more weeks, it sure feels like Summer on my Second Life Flickr feed. I am enjoying the virtual sunshine and thought I might share a few of my favorites.
Kylie_Jaxxon captures the brilliance of the sun in “R & R”. Doesn’t it put you right there on the beach, the sun so white and bright it burns your eyes, the muscles tighten, and you reach for sunglasses before they tear. That’s summer in a nutshell. The bright, eye-pricking glare of a white hot sun.
Ｋｅｙ Ｍｏｎｋ’s fabulous photo of the Adele sim. I love the retro feeling he creates with the slightly yellow undernotes as though the picture is pulled from a drawer full of memories. There’s that slight curve of sunlight barely visible, but there. I also love how rectilinear so much of the photo is with the dock, the waterline, the land, and the boat contrasted with the wild curves of the foliage.
“Les ailes du ciel” by R just makes me happy. It makes me think of a Midsummer festival, full of joy and flowers. I love how it seems the flowers are dancing, too.
Butterfly Beach by sare is another photo that captures that retro feeling, both by being framed as a Polaroid and by that slightly aged yellowing. It captures those beautiful days where the sun and the sea and indivisible. I have noticed many seaside photos have lighting or filters that suggest they are a few decades old. I wonder if that is when most of us were having fun at the beach on childhood vacations that we have not time for now we are adults.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
One of the most common complaints from men in Second Life is the lack of clothing and events that cater to them. Some defend the lack of options as the natural result of men’s disinterest in fashion, but that reflects a reality more than twenty years in the past and not the current reality where the growth in menswear outstrips the growth in womenswear. Men in SL are interested in fashion, and thankfully, there’s a cohort of talent male fashion bloggers to guide their way.
Ian Dark blogs at El Eterno Resplandor. His pictures are casual, slice-of-life photos–a man enjoying himself about town and SL. I like his attention to the background. His style is very casual and relaxed, but he gives his pictures life with well thought-out settings and vignettes with him surfing, playing basketball, and just having a good time.
Roy Mildor blogs at his eponymous blog. All his blogs are titled with inspirational quotes such as “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent……!” His photos are varied, from portraits such as this one to gorgeous black and white photo that opens this article. He is experimental, trying out different styles, black and white, color, and experiments with light, action shots, portraits. His photostream is fun and filled with variety.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
I am drawn to Amber Wild’s photostream by her nearly singular focus on headshots and the magnificent crowns and headpieces she wears. Her pictures and bold with vibrant colors and gorgeous floral fantasies that you might find from Frida Kahlo. In her interview, she affirmed that the fantasy element of Second Life is integral to her SL art and a source of beauty for her.
In her first life, she’s been painting since she was four and ran a fashion house in Dublin where she designed clothing. She is relatively new to Second Life which has become a fantastical refuge for her during a long illness. As she explained, “I am old school and believe in using light rather than expensive software to enhance my shots. I own a Nikon and when I became sick Second Life afforded me the beauty of the camera and portraits that I love so well with a touch of fantasy always. I can get lost and live in the moment in this beautiful world were time does not exist and my mind is free,”
How would you describe your art?
I would describe my photos as an extension of myself and how I love to make a mood with colors and also perhaps slightly abstract fantasy and usually taken in the moment ~ my mood changing the feel and colors. This ultimately changes Amber’s mood as I have one thing that sets me apart perhaps ~ a little of me is always into her in that moment.
You seem to have an obsession with headdresses and hair ornaments. What underlies this intense focus?
I have always had a love of portraits. They move me and I love eyes most of all. I have come from another world before SL and fulfilled my potential there. I am not a fussy picture person ~ I love using the page as a palate with changing color or stark white etc. I use the headpieces because they give Amber her unique appeal and also have the detail I desire to just add the splash of color or mood I am looking for.
What artists influence your photos and your style?
I grew up loving Michelangelo and have learned so much particularly from his sketches ~ I practiced on these until I could draw a hand as good as him ~ simple beauty. I adore fashion shots from all the top magazines ~ simply beautiful and one can learn so much from just looking ~ fashion is also a love of mine.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
So I was browsing Flickr the other day and saw Panteleimon’s“Rising Son” with a hashtag that said #PryceBodyLanguageChallenge. I clicked and did not come up for hours. It is, I think, the finest collection of Second Life photos I have ever found in one spot. It all came about when Lawrence D. Pryce, who deserves his own profile one of these days, invited several people to participate in a challenge back in February -- create Second Life photos modeled after stylized RL black and white portraits. This is what he wrote to them:
I will provide you with an image. You may use it for reference or deviate a bit from it. The image will be tasteful and must be in black and white. However, if you want to use an accent color to highlight the body, please feel free to do so. Just be sure to keep the integrity of the body with no weird skin color. I want you to capture the contours of the body. Lure the viewer in but leave much to the imagination. You have 10 days!!! Once you have completed the image please tag me on Flickr and Facebook. Place the #Pryce Body Language Challenge. I can't wait to see your image! As always, be expressive and have fun.
Pryce sent everyone a different image from this collection, but they were united by their stark black and white emotional power, the light traversing body contours, the shadows evoking mystery, every photo telling a story. Here's some of my very favorites from the challenge:
“Silhouette” from Callie Hamelin is kind of emblematic of the collection, sensual exaltation of the human form in chiaroscuro–using light and shadow to outline the curves and lines of the body, setting a mood of contemplative reverie. The little trail of smoke is a great detail. The striking boldly diagonal line of her leg is amazing.
Angelika Corral’s submission is a beautiful example of how Second Life photos can come to the uncanny valley and rush across into that place where virtuality and reality coalesce.
“Solitude” from ChimKami Resident is in sepia rather than black and white and is just stunning. The sepia gives the sense of history like a Victorian cameo.
