see the May updates on my RL blog here: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

Acquarella: After the Apocalypse shown at Split Screen installation space in Second life during April 2012, screen shot 01,virtual immersive art

This image, along with 14 others, will be part of a Billboard Art Project show. The BAP is looking for more artists, so be sure to check out the details on my RL blog.

Acquarella: After the Apocalypse Opens at Split Screen

Dividni Shostakovich, curator of Split Screen Installation Space, will open Alizarin Goldflake's "Acquarella: After the Apocalypse (Chapters 1 & 2)" and Blue Tsuki's "Adagio" to the public on Sunday, April 1, 12 am PDT, at Split Screen. All are cordially invited to drop in anytime. The Reception Party will be Sunday, April 8, 1 - 2 pm PDT .

Alizarin & Blue: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Beleza/37/219/1501

"Acquarella: After the Apocalypse (Chapters 1 & 2)" is a metamorphosis of the first half of an InWorldz installation hosted by virtual art patron Jeri Rahja. The story is the same: the goddess Acquarella sets out to repopulate the dead ocean after the human race wipes out life on earth, but she makes a big mistake along the way. The story may be the same but the "set" has a fresh look. Although the Disaster chapter still sparkles with particle flames, the following new things have been added: the balcony entrance, the path of hot coals, the flaming lilypad stems, the thick black cloud, a totally different more allegorical soundscape, and the shape of the chapter container itself. The Perfection chapter has some new plants, a different layout, and now includes a spying monster named Homeland Security, which enhances the original idea that attempts at perfection carry the seeds of their own destruction within them.

"Adagio" is both meditation and vision. Growing out of a rippling red sea, trefoil Sab flowers emit dark elegant urns that float in a blood red sky, singing as they emit trails of golden particles the whole of their long and varied trajectories. Surrounding this ascension, ranks of solemnly turning windmills bear witness from darker waters, churning an unknown essence into the fiery sky. Magenta stalks rising from the center further suggest transcendence. A rich and sophisticated soundscape is integral to the build.

Both installations will be open throughout the month of April.

Links:
DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake (Metaverse avatar of Martha Jane Bradford)
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake
Anza Borrego Oak:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/1/5s_KRMi55v8
Acquarella:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/a/u/0/u-lo6JosN0M
Acquarella:the Fable ( a Chantal Harvey machinima)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1eFMtjV6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhO2Rf88uM (Chinese narration)
Metemspyche's Garden:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/2/GfQGuNXWvLo
Requiem for Fukushima Daiichi:
http://youtu.be/2H_ne2XbcNs
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/3/XDjrLmPpopA
The Maze:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/4/OEa9rtEiINE
The Mysterious Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizarinGoldflake#p/u/5/c6Xv_pAf0Qc
The Winter Bear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYSYJNkm1E&list=QL&playnext=1

New Video Up on Youtube!

"The Mysterious Forest" documents my contribution to the Interactive Collaboration of the Caerleon Artists Collective. Artistide Despres was the project leader, and the CAC is hosted in Second Life by Georg Janick/Gary Zabel of UMass, Boston. I did the filming, and Cobalt Zeplin/Alfred M. Ajami did the editing and sound remixing. The film features soror Nishi, along with Cobalt, Viridian Nightfire, and myself.


The scenery is derived from my digital drawing "Anza Borrego Oak," which can be found on my RL web site at http://www.marthavista.com/DigiDrawHoriz1.htm (scroll down to the bottom row of images).

"A Conversation with Artist Alizarin Goldflake" by Nazz Lane

A really super interview of me by Nazz Lane hit cyberspace yesterday: see http://laneslist.blogspot.com/2010/02/conversation-with-artist-alizarin.html

We toured my newly redesigned sky studio (come look!! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/205/183/301) and talked about the art. Nazz has developed consummate skills as an interviewer, and although our conversation flowed naturally and spontaneously, I feel the interview thoroughly covered the all important aspects of my virtual art.

This was Nazz's 299th post on his blog "Lane's List: Nazz Lane's List of the ordinary and extra-ordinary people and places in the metaverse we call SL." He is a prolific prose artist, writing for many SL media and the author of a novel in-progress about Second Life titled "Borders of our lives."  I am eagerly awaiting the next chapter!

============================================
Links:

DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford
Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford
Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA

"Metemspyche's Garden:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo

"The Maze:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE

Marthavista News (RL)

Available in Second Life, my latest hanging scroll, "Hermione," has now been published in Real Life, too, and since Marthavista is at long last transactional you can buy it online! Click here to purchase: http://www.marthavista.com/dayfornightshow.htm

About Hermione: from January 2008 to the present I have been working in a direction that is entirely new for me, constructing digital collages out of sections of my digital drawings using a creative approach I discovered in Second Life. The method is similar to process art in that the final image is not envisioned at the outset but emerges as a result of assembling, layering, and composing visual elements.

The physical presentation of the collages was inspired by Japanese art, specifically paintings which are displayed as hanging scrolls called kakejiku. The collages are printed in separate panels on Epson canvas with an Epson 4000 ink jet printer. The panels are varnished and then glued together to complete the image. The wall hanging is constructed with a pockets for hanging rods, and the finished art is meant tobe displayed unframed.

The digital drawings that are the source material for the wall hangings are drawn just like traditional charcoals, lithographs, or pastels except that I use digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter 10 and a Wacom digitizing tablet and stylus. I create a file of the right size and resolution to produce the final image desired and select a paper texture, a brush-tool such as “Charcoal” or “Flat Pen,” and a color. As I draw, the tablet and stylus electronically translate the motions of my hand into virtual brush, pencil, or pen strokes which I can see on my monitor real-time. I do small, limited editions of the finished drawings using archival inks on fine art rag paper. On the splash screen of my web site (see the links below), there is a downloadable PDF that explains in detail how to do a digital drawing.

Links:

DIGITAL ART: Martha Jane Bradford

Web Site: http://www.marthavista.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/ search "Martha Jane Bradford"
MJB Blog: http://marthajanebradford.blogspot.com/

VIRTUAL ART: Alizarin Goldflake
Second Life avatar of Martha Jane Bradford

Atelier Alizarin (Second Life studio): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35
Blog: http://alizaringoldflake.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alizaringoldflake/

YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
Studio Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjrLmPpopA

"Metemspyche's Garden:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQGuNXWvLo

"The Maze:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEa9rtEiINE

Acquarella Story Contest Winner

"The Princess Who Would Never Take a Bath" by Laurel Leavitt

Once there was a Princess who would never take a bath.

“Please,” said the Queen.

“No,” said the Princess.

“You can have bubbles,” offered the King.

“No thanks,” said the Princess.

“She is filthy,” whispered the servants.

So, the King called in his wisemen and said, “ Please think up a plan.”

The wisemen hired a carpenter to build a fine aquarium, with jewel sprinkled sand and plants with lacy leaves. The royal chemist poured in water from the clearest, purest well, and ordered fish in all the rainbow colors. Then the Royal Wizard cast a magic spell upon the Princess, so that when the Queen said, “Time for a bath,” the Princess turned into a tiny mermaid, and the Queen picked her up and plopped her into the aquarium. “Whee,” said the princess, as she dove and splashed and swam. But, when the Queen said, “Time to get out now,” the princess said, “No!”

“Please,” said the Queen.

"No, never," said the Princess.

“You can have cocoa,” offered the King

“No thanks,” said the princess.

“She will drown,” sighed the servants.

So the King and Queen called in the Wizard and said “Send us in, too.” And the Wizard cast a magic spell and plopped their tiny bodies in the water and they dove and splashed and swam.

“Time to get out now,” cried the servants.

“No, it's beautiful here,” exclaimed the Queen.

“Come home right this minute,” called the cooks.

“No, it's peaceful here,” shouted the King.

“They will starve,” warned the Wisemen.

But the royal cooks cooked food for them and ground it up and dried it and sprinkled it in the water where the royal family waited.

“How about roast beef? said the King.

“Send us peaches,” begged the queen.

“ I want chocolate,” said the princess.

And one young kitchen helper, whose name was Acquarella, heard the Princess ask for chocolate and threw in a whole candy bar which crushed to death the King and Queen and Princess.

"Oh no," said the wisemen.

"Alas," said the wizard.

"I'm sorry," cried the kitchen helper.

But the aquarium was built so sturdily that even after all these years, you can see a piece of the chocolate bar and hear the voices saying “Pleeeeease” and “Noooo.”

Seba Sideways Concert a Huge Success

Ali and her good friend Corcosman Voom

Hair Flying

Quietly listening

my pal soror Nishi

everyone was dancing

Seba Sideways

the one and only Isabella Alphaville

The concert at Atelier Alizarin yesterday was a great success.  Ali's friends mingled with Seba's fans, all dancing to tunes from his fabulous tenor sax

art:21 covers Second Life art!

"Creating on the Social Web" by Nettrice Gaskins, a most welcome and insightful article about Second Life art, appeared yesterday on art:21 ("art in the twenty-first century"), a PBS art news blog. Featured artists include DanCoyote Antonelli, Bryn Oh, Maya Paris, Alizarin Goldflake, and Vu Sosa in that order. It is gratifying to see the vibrant world of virtual art at last getting mainstream attention. Be sure to read the many comments the article has received - lots of info and debate!

The video that appears with this post can also be seen on art:21. It gives a taste of how I use my real life digital drawings to make Second Life art.

The article can be found here: http://blog.art21.org/2009/11/30/virtual-artists-immersive-discoveries-in-a-virtual-3d-frontier/
and Nettrice's web site here: http://www.nettrice.us/
and my RL (Martha Jane Bradford) web site here: http://www.marthavista.com/

Bringing Water to the Desert

Burning Life opens Saturday - come visit me at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Burning%20Life-Nightingale/26/98/25

Atelier Alizarin Has Moved

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/222/189/35

On August 1 Atelier Alizarin, my Second Life studio, moved to a sim called Lie. It is gorgeous mountainous land on a Linden highway along the ocean, somewhat reminiscent of California's Big Sur. An original mainland sim on an up-to-date server, the fabulous land textures, abundance of open space, and elegant builds make it a visual treat. The land includes a small water access near the highway for those who might like to put a boat in and sail new seas.

Atelier Alizarin attractions include:
**a very large interactive immersive art installation called Orfeo's Oratorio, loosely based on the idea of a cosmic amusement park (an NPIRL pick)
**immersive art and musical kinetics in Sky Studio Day and Sky Studio Night
**In the main gallery building: The Particularium on the third floor, RL digital drawings on the second, and 2-D digital collages on the first
**in the beautiful valley on the ground, a select showcase of immersive art


Please come visit - and then fly around the neighborhood. There is a volcano nearby!!

SUNRISE SUNSET in the SOLEIL show at ANGELGATE

Please come to the opening of SOLEIL at ANGELGATE on Saturday, July 11, at 10 am PDT. There are 36 artists in this spectacular show curated by White Lebed and almost every piece is a never-seen-before new build. I have reworked SUNRISE SUNSET into a cylinder with a domed roof, and I am very pleased with the result.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/AngelGate/115/89/661

Acquarella at Kelly Yap Gallery: the WATER show

I have work in WATER, a group show at Kelly Yap Art Gallery, which runs from June 26 to August 15, 2009. The Opening wil be Saturday, July 4, at 5pm SLT, featuring DJ Eifachfilm Vacirca. Fireworks at 6:30!

Join us for a 4th of July celebration and take in this incredibly inventive show of some of SL's best artists' interpretations of the theme. Be sure to notice the completely redesigned gallery, a work of art in itself.

My piece is called "Acquarella" and is installed on the roof. TP or fly up or take the elevator to the fourth floor. It is populated with moving goldfish, angelfish, and neon tetras - take one of the three pose balls and swim with the fish! Notice the lily pads gently bobbing in the water and the weeds waving in the SL wind. Everything in this build is a digital drawing done by hand with Corel Painter.

Other artists in this show are: Borges19 Oh, Isobel Gustafson, Francis Bagration, Morgana Nagorski, Miso Susanowa, Physeter Nicholls, Bau Uhr, Dacob Paine, Pol Jarvinen, Raisin Runo, Ainsworth Gastel, Fuschia Nightfire, Sabrinaa Nightfire, Simon Zenfold & LawnDart Curtiss.

Kelly Yap Water Show: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healy/175/18/150

Acquarella at my studio: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Huntsman/190/25/333