Santa has come to my home!

Santa charged my friend Laura to bring me a gift! ;)
Today I got a pretty Christmas box, and inside it I found a very lovely dress from Compulsion :))
It's something that remembers the famous Coco's words about "a little black dress" :)

A double-layered short dress: a simple black lace tunic, covered by a smaller opaque one. Lace is shown on the top and sticks out from the bottom edge of the graceful skirt. On the high waist, it's decorated by a tiny belt with a large golden buckle. Sober, simple and extremely classy!
I'm very happy to hear from Laura that she thought of me, when she had seen that. I think that is a great compliment being viewed as a girl who matches this great style!
So, I thank her by styling the dress at my best and shooting it in a proper place, the glamorous Deco Cafe at Bay City.
Happy Holidays!

Frosty Impressions contest at Galerie der Sinne - 2nd winner

I've taken part in the Frosty Winter contest at Galerie der Sinne, whose owners Pippa Mint and Herzkoenig Actor are very active in supporting art photography. They make seasonal contests at their beautiful venue, and award ceremonies are enriched by beautiful concerts.

I'd had the honor to be among the winners, this time, and I enjoyed a lovely night of live guitar music by Arminus Writer.

Antartica Slade and Damatjo Magic have bee the 1st and the 3rd winner with their beautiful photos.

Many thanks to the Galerie and to its owners, and also to the jury, made by Brin Oh, Falbala Farey, Roy Mildor and Max Butoh.

Here below the pic that has been awarded

(better view on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/11358528446/)

 All the photos of the contest can be seen at the Galerie der Sinne

See also the Flickr of Antartica and Damatjo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ayecreartivephotography/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46567538@N03

 

Birthday gift!

My beloved friends Laura, Julie and Briju know how they have to do when they want to present me a gift... They just have to TP me to Sonatta Morales's store and to be patient, suffering my hundreds of "Oooh! Look at this!", "Wonderful!", "I have to wear this!", or my endless comments about that or that other dress' style and history...
When a new collection like Reverie is displayed at that store, my enthusiatic comments and my indecision about choosing are even harder to afford!
How I prefer to cheat my usual MEB clothes? (Well, it isn't exactly cheating: MEB doesn't make retro clothes!). Which dress deserves to be chosen first? The sparkling CoolJazz or the romantic Garden? The (super)classy, Balenciaga-style, Noite or the dreamy Mesmerizer?

Sonatta Morales' Reverie Collection, some examples

At the end of the tale, I'd fallen in special love with two great dresses, so my friends could have a sigh of relief!
I definitely love them and my new dresses Babylon and Artemisia. I'm wearing them in these pictures, taken on the appropriate background of the Deco Yacht Club.

Artemisia

Artemisia is a 1930-40s style dress, inspired by oriental design. Long pencil skirt, crossed neckline, black silk painted with golden natural patterns, large black sash on the waist, short black gloves and a simple round hat: it's perfect for an elegant happy hour or even for an important work meeting. I wear here the Diva Winged sunglasses, trying to imitate the wonderful look (a bit "dark lady") of the store's vendor. Who loved Wong Kar Wai "In the mood for love" movie could maybe recognize something of the classy and austere elegance shown there by Maggie Cheung.

Babylon

When I saw Babylon the first time, worn by a Sonatta's store model, I thought of Josephine Baker. Not on the stage, but in her real life, when she changed the famous bananas nude costume to more wearable, sensual and totally original dresses. It talks of Art Deco at its best: geometric, opulent black and golden patterns on an orange background, long decorated black gloves, a simple straight cut enriched by whimsical feathers at the hips' sides.

Have I to add anything to the happiness I show in my pics and in my words?

Thank you, my friends!

 

 

Gaia project at LEA 13

An old friend like Nino Vichan (we have happily worked together at the Esselle Movie Magazine for a long time) gave me the honor to take part in an amazing project called "Gaia" at LEA. A collaborative event, coordinated by Nino and Aloisio Congrejo and Tani Thor of Tanalois, involving 11 artists (the three mentioned and Betty Tureaud, Kicca Igaly, Gem Preis, Chinon Beaumont, Comet Morigi, Cayenne Avon, Daco Monday and myself), called to be inspired by the well known Lovelock-Margulis Gaia Theory about Earth's life. 

Although it deals with ecology, of course, I wanted to experiment a quite different approach than the most traditional one to that theme. In shooting or selecting my photos I tried to show the lack of balance that industrial and urban development had introduced into the "organic" model built by the Gaia theorist to explain how our planet works as a whole.
So I used a simple trick: alternating images of nature and urban or industrial landscapes in the same frame, and letting the visitors changing them by clicking on easy, opposite symbols set on the photo itself (a burning industrial bin and a tree).

So, my pictures try to show two worlds which cohabit the same planet. The reference to Gaia hypotesis are mostly in the introduction and in the last photo shown.
In the text I started by a quote from one of the first popular books that started to build an ecologist awareness in the Sixties, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, talking of th absurdity of the fight humans are doing against nature, that's a fight against themselves. I continued with another quote, taken by an impressive more recent book, Kevin Kelly's Out of Control, envisaging a future where man doesn't give up "progress" to go back to "nature" (the most naif version of ecology) but where machines (the "Done") do work according to the logic of the nature (the "Born").

This is roughly symbolized by the last picture: tall windmills taking energy from nature in a pleasant and intact natural environment.

It's just an attempt to show something we can only to glimpse, today. But it could be the way for a future where the two worlds could be again only one, "organic" whole.

I can't finish with this post without remarking how the wonderful concert by Ultraviolet at the opening contributed to enjoy the exhibits at their best.

My "Americana" photos on Bestyle magazine!

What better, for a photographer, than being requested to publish her photos on a magazine?
Agtaope Carter-Lane, editor of Bestyle magazine did it to me!

She told me she had been impressed by my first "chapter" of the series "Americana" I've posted on my Flickr and asked me copies to publish them on her great mag.

I know and love Bestyle since a very long time: MEB's SIM, Klio, is close to the old, glorious Best of Italian Style one; we collaborate with The Best since the time when Annemarie Perenti, the mall founder, allowed MEB to open a pretty store there.
The friendship between MariaElena Barbosa, the MEB designer, and Annemarie quickly has extended to myself, and I lived an exciting experience working close to the volcanic Anne's mind :) Then, Agtaope had taken the SIM and the magazine from Annemarie, who was tired of the huge work and who wanted to live a more relaxed SL. And a new close friendship had begun :)
New collaborations started up, and I saw that Agy's sweetness is paired to great managing skills: the magazine follows improving in quality and in richness, fashion market had had a big impulse by Gypset market and finally the whole SIM has been rebuilt in a minimal and classy style by Creativedream Zsun.
MEB had had the honour to be on almost all the issues of Bestyle, including with a cover story (July-August 2012), with the wonderful photos by Florence Babenco, while the MEB shop at The Best follows being one of the most important in MEB stores' web.

 (MEB cover story - Bestyle July-August 2012)

(The latest MEB ad on Bestyle magazine: September-October 2013)

Moreover, as MEB CEO, I've taken care of participating to the Bestyle market Gypset and to collaborate to Soloevane Agency events, based at Bestyle, offering room in the Klio SIM (last opportunity is in these days, the Autumn Symphony shows managed by Genevieve Kamala, Preciouss Metal and Sequoia Nightfire, other beloved friends!
By the way, on next Friday October 11th, MEB will be on that event's runway showing its new Fall Collection.

This is the past (and I'm sure, the future, too), but the wonder and the happiness of today is seeing my name and a reference to my "Americana" photos even on the new Bestyle issue's cover!

Emotions in virtual world are pretty real, and I feel them very strongly in my heart. Although I published some MEB ad's photos on that magazine yet, seeing there so many pages showing a set of photos I love very much makes of today one of my top days in SL :))
Thank you Agy, thank you Bestyle!

("Americana" is a series of photographs showing some of the best SL places inspired to American locations and themes. Chapters will be gathered in a set under this title: http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/sets/72157635715192173/)

Bestyle magazine is avalaible from kiosks at The Best of Italian Style SIM or in the best fashion stores.

Tamara !

Today is my fifth birthday in SL.
I'm too lazy to make parties or so, but my friends don't forget the date :)
So, Laura18 Streeter has come to my home, bringing a big pink box (what color if not pink, for a Laura's box?) ;)) I opened it and inside.... I've found another box, from Kittycats!
I don't know if you are aware that when you buy a kitten, you touch the box and you get a message saying: "Your kitten has opened her eyes, but she needs 15 minutes to be ready".
15 minutes can be very long, when you're waiting for a new baby :))  I kept sitting with Laura, talking about kittens, while the box followed sending messages about the state of the birth process and sometimes it moved, 'cause the pet inside did definitely want to come seeing her new family!
After 15 minutes, the box disappeared and we saw something like a little white stain on my black rug: a moving stain! The kitten!!
Laura told me that, seeing the image of the new pet, she had thought of Art Deco: the shiny white hair, the elegance make her look like coming from that glamorous Era. So I suddenly thought of famous 1920 women for the name to give her, and I've chosen Tamara, in honor to the great painter Tamara de Lempicka, an Art Deco icon.
Tamara is very, very small: we couldn't shoot her close with us, simply 'cause even a foot is too big to stay in the frame, when you want to focus on that microbe :))

Along with Tamara, Laura gave me a collar for her. it's a very pretty one: gems and gold for a true Lady, as Tammy has shown to be since her very first steps in this world :))

We've taken a lot of pics, where Tamara, without any point of reference, looks like a normal cat. But she isn't! Her lovely blue eyes are like pinheads, and when she runs around my home's floor (how speedy is she!) , peeking at every object I have there, you can think it's just a white ant!

See her at "home" (her home is a pretty cushion i bought for her "brothers" and "sisters" Mercury, Silvestro and Hanaya... yes, I've four kittens, now, aside the other shoulder ones! My lazy labrador Ulisse will be even more jealous!) and compare her size to that of the older brother on the background!

And see how Hanaya makes the "watchCAT" while Tamara is sleeping!

I see I put a lot of "!" in this post. It's the sign of my enthusiasm and happiness for the new baby kitten, and of my love for my friend Laura, who wanted to celebrate my 5 years of SL - that are almost 5 years of friendship between us - giving me an unforgettable afternoon, the afternoon Tamara is born!

Hidden Geometries - My new photo exhibit at Tanalois Gallery

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/137/42/3203

I never tried painting. Although I've been an art lover since my college days, I always had known that brushes and canvas aren't for me. But I saw thousands of painted images, in galleries and museums or on books and on the Web. I'm fascinated by them.

Saying something using colors, shadows and shapes instead of talking is much more powerful and it tells me even more than the best novel or poem. So, I take pics, but I don't forget painting. 20th Century's mixed up the new photography art to the traditional ones: paintings and photos influence, combine and interchange each others; rules of painting passed to photography, the photographer's eye changed the painter's one. Many great artists, from the Avantgardes to today are both painters and photographer.

Neither painting and photography copy the "real world". After all, neither our eyes do it. We build our reality, despite eye's or camera's lenses seem reproducing it. Seeing is creating, selecting parts of the world, ignoring or ehancing details, slightly changing the point of view, giving our own meanings to things by remembering or imagining past visions, concepts and ideas.

The way modern art started doing this is simplifying: minimalism is the common trend that most of avantgardes share. Abstractism is the name we give to the most outstanding art's trends of the past century. Proportions, colors, geometries make the image, neglecting "real" shapes. It makes us thinking in pure shapes, ruled more by geometry and by color theory than by "real world's" laws, even when they design "real" things.

I wanted to contaminate my photography by the features of modern art: my photographer's eye is always looking beyond the reality, isolating even the most trivial details to express the ideas they bring to, catching unusual relationships between void and objects. Second Life graphics helps a lot: its simplified shapes, its clean skylines, even its roughest edges make clearer the essential and suggesting shapes of the world.

Painter's suggestions aren't conscious; they come from a deep stack of memories, flashes and studies I strongly feel when I take or work on a picture.

I want to dedicate these works to all people who think that reality (natural or virtual) tells us something about ourselves.
 

A preview slideshow can be see at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIAQdsCGFc)

PyramidCafè TV presented the exhibit on a thoughtful video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-iFIYsNAw
 

Squinternet Larnia (Donna Flora)

We've had a friend.

We've had a friend who added taste and culture to SL

 

We've had a friend who gave us wonderful gifts.

We've had a friend who thaught us to fight.

She passed away today.

WE WILL HAVE SQUINTERNET, FOREVER!

Ciao, Squinty!

Melusina at Blue Moon gallery

Invited by Susy Halcali, I joined the Blue Moon gallery since its beginning. After a while, the owner, Reddline had thought to present each artist exhibitibng there by a short video. The aim is to show who's behind the names and the artworks exhibited at the gallery.
I proposed to tape it at a location I love a lot: the Paris-like Cupcake SIM. This is the video Reddline made there. I'm glad to share it on my blog, although it's on the Pixie Reddline Blue Moon Facebook page and on You Tube.
Thank you, Reddline, amazing work!

Light Art

Thanks to my friend The Captain (Walter Gedenspire), who invited me, I had the opportunity to attend a unique show, yesterday.
Kikiri Tuqiri is a digital artist in RL and in SL (http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kiki-art.html). Her Egyptian Fantasies is a stunning light show: I never saw anything like the ephemeral sculptures of light that appear on the stage while Kiki dances following a new age-arabian music.

I never had thought such light effects were possible in SL. Kikiri masters light like they come from a painter's brush, creating abstract shapes, colored waterfalls, fireworks, planets and even animal or surreal shapes.

 
I got astonished looking at those changing, shining and fading lights! I couldn't stop taking pictures, and I want to share them with all art lovers of SL.
Don't miss next show by Kikiri, it's a unique experience!