Sue Stonebender

I've never met Sue Stonebender, but her work has touched me in Second Life. After many years of building and creating, Sue has been winding down her business in Second Life—it's been known for a while—and her store, House of Serendipity (temporarily hosted at Alchemy Immortalis), will close its doors forever this coming Sunday, January 31st. Almost everything there is now deeply discounted, and it's now or never to get copies of her elegant and lovely work.

On the sim where I live, Boughan's Chance (photo at top), I am blessed to have enjoyed some of Sue's enormous arboreal creations, including her Ancient Salix Babylonica Tree (I'm in the second photo lying in its huge branches), her Stately Old Magnolia Gradiflora Tree, her Grizzled Old Apple Tree (which actually drops apples you can pick up! ... below I'm on its lovely tire swing), her Tortured Swamp Chestnut Oak Draped with Spanish Moss, and her Giving Tree, which doubles as a microfinance program for the working poor in first life. I love them. They're works of art, and I know I'm not alone in my admiration. I could watch them swaying in the wind for hours. Plus, Sue has made other fine things ... pianos, jewelry, Christmas items and more. I just ran over to her store to get copies of many things for myself (I don't have a place to put them, but I will treasure them!). Thank you, Sue.

Innsmouth

I own a Babele Fashion store in a beautiful, exquisite sim by the name of Abbey Island Resort & Sex Club. OK, OK, from name of the place you might expect to find one of Second Life's many sleazy resorts or sex sims. But it's not ... it's a work of art, with a beautiful shopping area, castle, great textures, fun stuff (try the hang gliding!), and simply a beautiful landscape. Even if my store didn't turn a profit (don't worry, it does, and a healthy one) I'd keep it open just to support the sim, which is the creation of BaileyMarie Princess and Darmin Darkes.

Not until recently did I have a chance to visit a much-talked-about sim called Innsmouth, and I couldn't get enough of it ... it was like inhaling something so intoxicating I kept wanting to breathe more. The textures, the vistas, the sounds -- stupendous. But when I realized that Darmin and BaileyMarie were the creators of this amazing place it really brought a smile to my face.

Innsmouth is described as a "New England Coastal Town 1930," but if you know your geography and pulp fiction you'll know that 1) there's no such place in real life, and 2) you need to dust off your H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a far cry from Shakespeare or James Joyce, but he managed to create some vivid and usually nightmarish literature, some of which was set in his imaginary and beloved Innsmouth.

Whether or not you're a reader of Lovecraft, this sim will amaze. It's a dark place, a seemingly deserted seashore town, complete with houses, shops, a church, an opera house, a lighthouse, ships and boats, a fish processing house, a movie theatre, a leviathan, a bar, broken sidewalks and other structures, all in various states of filth, grime and decay, embraced by relentless rain and lightning. It's an exciting place where one has the sensation that any turn might lead to a new discovery, a new encounter. The shopworn textures are stunning. And every structure can be entered--be sure to wander into a few and to climb to the top of the lighthouse. If you find it, the store emblazoned with Coca-Cola ads contains the one real commercial establishment, where you can buy copies of some of the Innsmouth buildings. Simply put, Innsmouth is priceless.

To see some commercial work by Darmin and BaileyMarie, check out A2 Design, purveyors of, ummm, let's say delightful adult items, visit Abbey Island. (And stop by mine right next door while you're there!) ... And DP Fashions & Designs as well.

My outfit here is the lovely Miss Peacock Dress from Cutea Benelli's Grim Bros.

Flashmans Redux

A while back I blogged about Flashmans, that venerable (if seedy) old gathering hole. Sadly, the old girl (in the words of its now retired proprietor Martin Ren) closed her doors on December 11th, 2009, as Martin hung up his hat. (Above, I'm catching a last dance with the also venerable (if seedy) Boughan Humphreys.) Some of us knew that Martin was building a new Flashmans, though, and she opened her doors the following day, now under the gentle care of Miss Echo Underwood and Miss Phideaux Mayo in the sim Esoterica. More photos are on my flickr stream--and one below here from the new establishment.

My dress in the top photo is new from Babele Fashion, the Tight Wool Blue Xcite! compatible, and in the bottom pic the even newer Wool and Lace Dark Xcite! compatible.

Dreaming Night in HPMD

The lovely sim known as Happy Mood, owned by yuyu Flores, really deserves its own blog entry ... a delightful place of curios and things to make you smile. But additionally from December 1st through 31st, HPMD is home to a beautiful creation called Dreaming Night by Coyura Cazalet, Ino Jie and Sasaya Kayo. As you arrive at Dreaming Night you have a choice of entering three interconnected spherical worlds--Secret Party, Yule Log and Goofy Santa, each of which presents its own delights. (Above, I'm being flown about in wandering fashion in Goofy Santa, closely monitored by a team of pigs perched on a giant Santa (click to zoom in).)

The dress in the photo is new from Babele Fashion, the Uncinetto Red, a perfect outfit for the holidays!

Savant City

Long ago, my friend LisaKathleen Kaigawa (before she became LisaKathleen Kaligawa!) began to exhibit some of her real life artwork in Second Life. The earliest exhibition of The Savants I can remember was at Lauk's Nest, but maybe there were others. For Burning Life she brought them out of hibernation, now in much more colorful and dazzling form, and happily they've found a home "courtesy of patroness-of-the-arts Charlotte Warwillow" at Savant City. Lots of full perm freebies here for the taking, and some fun and thoughtful artwork too!

AM Radio's The Quiet: Further Away and Further Apart

When I think about art in Second Life I always think of AM Radio, our master of depth, distance and perception ... whose work mixes quietude with an occasional dash of potential silliness. Art in America ought to be covering AM's work here as seriously as they do that of many real world artists (nudge to Cathy Lebowitz, Nancy Princenthal et al hehe). I arrived here this evening at AM Radio's IDIA Laboratories installation, The Quiet: Further Away and Further Apart, after discovering that one of my favorite sims, Second Krakow, seems to have vanished ... never a good sensation! Thankfully this awesome place is still here (AM says he has thoughts to expand it), and here he and I are looking out at a wheat field on fire. (As always, just click on the photos to zoom in.)

If you haven't visited one of AM's sim-wide installations before, you're in for a treat. Rarely in Second Life is one able to experience the sensation of vistas such as one finds here, with sky and clouds slowly drifting, sweeping across the plain that disappears into the horizon. Here we experience a true expanse -- set your draw distance way up. To see this area, click here.

But that's not all ... because down below is the second half of the installation (or perhaps I have them reversed). I have never seen snow this beautiful in Second Life, and the stillness is eerily haunting ... one can easily imagine the sound of the crystalline snowflakes as they hit the ground. To see this area, arrive here. Clearly I'm shivering in this skimpy dress, but AM remarked, "I think it IS hot, where ever that dress may be." ;-) It's Babele Fashion's "La Gioconda" outfit, and I hope AM won't mind me saying that he said of it, "very nice texture work." A great compliment from a great artist. (And thanks to my friend Naxos for first introducing this sim to me.)

Allure

People often ask me where I found my skin and shape, and when I reply "Allure -- Naela Carter's store," they usually say, "Where? Never heard of it." I'm not sure why Naela's store is such a well kept secret, but it shouldn't be. Her numerous shapes and skins are fabulous, and I stopped by here today to check out her captivating new decor. (Click on the photo to zoom in.) My skin is one of her old ones, called Alexia, and I absolutely love it. You can also find a small but growing collection of attire here, too. Visit Allure.

My outfit in this photo is the new Gown Dark Gray by Babele Fashion's Pinco Janus (minus the gown -- this is one of those outfits you can mix and match in a variety of ways). Visit Babele Fashion.

Amondeu Artisans Guild

Just by chance today I met Kilara Balnarring, who has a cool shop called Amondeu Artisans Guild, where all of her creations are free! She makes all sorts of cool objects, and here's a free Statue of Liberty avatar she's modeling. Where else can you find dancing sheep, a rat on a stick and a gun that shoots rats? Visit her shop.

Mariposa-Monarch Slave Silks

Every now and then, something really catches my eye. One of our Babele Fashion customers arrived wearing this the other day, and I knew right then I had to have it. (Click the image for a larger view.) Created by ally Chevalier of AC Designs, this slave silk is one of many lovely things at her shop, and beautifully executed. Visit AC Designs. Photo taken at Boughan's Chance at Walkaloosa. :)

The Corn Field

Long ago, if you were a Very Bad Avatar, you might be banned for a certain length of time to The Corn Field, a mythical group of sims filled with, well, corn fields ... rows upon rows of them ... and you couldn't leave, couldn't fly, couldn't communicate with anyone on the rest of the grid. Get it? Like a prison term, time to reflect and do your penance. Now you just lose your account for a day or two ... must be easier ... or there are so many people needing to be suspended these days that they wouldn't all fit on The Corn Field! ;-)

Out of necessity, of course, The Corn Field was closed to visitors. I've tried to get there before, without success. But a couple days ago, the Lindens opened The Corn Field for Halloween, woohoo, and there are parties and all sorts of crazy goings on there for a few days. Mia Linden tells me The Corn Field will close again on Monday morning, November 2nd, so don't delay if you want to visit!

Click here to visit The Corn Field3. If you're curious for more photos, visit my Flickr stream.

In this photo, this sexy and very fun dress is Babele Fashion's Mikiskirt Green Xcite! compatible, which you can find at our main store at Babele Fashion Island.