Artsy Sunshine

I ended up taking advantage of the two unworked LEA sims for some water pictures I often don't get a chance to - enormous water settings. I love playing with reflections, and now I get to see how reflections and shadows work together to make a complete image. I also ended up making a monochromatic look - all in shades of yellow - which was rather fun. I was inspired by this dress from Lark which had been on sale for a twenty four hour window I missed (damn you, time), but which was still more than lovely at it's full price. The second I saw this bright, clear yellow I knew which I wanted; I'm not an enormous yellow fan in general, but this one was so bright and astonishing that I simply couldn't resist. I also really liked the shape - a casual and loose shift with and angled hem. It's very simplicity is what makes the bright color work; anything more ornate would be overpowering. I paired it with jewelry from Virtual Impressions, though in this case the included yellow wasn't quite bright enough to match, and so I ended up tinting it. I was aiming for something as simple as the dress, and these floating pearls fit the bill beautifully. My one wish would have been for a bracelet to add to the set, something simple but dripping; I tried filling in a few things from my inventory, but nothing quite worked, so in the end I went bare. I did move the hoop earrings out to the tips of my ears, though, which is something I often do when my hair, in this case a loose cut from Wasabi Pills, covers the earlobe.

My boots are another recent release, this time from SLink, and are yet another style for her high heels. I simply adore the cutouts, and I keep my fingers crossed that we might have lace in our future - tall boots with lace detailing down the side are one of my favorites. The styling of this pair reminded me vaguely of the strappy shoes worn in Roman times, and I thought they took a casual look and elevated it a little higher into bold garden party. My cosmetics are a lips and eyeshadow combo - unusual for me - and are from Beautiful Freak. I love the pastel color of it, especially on the lips. It rides a little high on my lower lip, which lead to this lovely fade form yellow to pink which I found terribly charming. My nails are an amazing new release from A:S:S which mimic different gemstones, which makes me unbearably happy in a way I find difficult to describe. The second I saw these on Flickr I was going to the store and seeking them out; semiprecious stones are so gloriously gorgeous. I was trying for deliberately artsy and emotional pictures this time, in honor of this being an LEA sim even if there wasn't an actual artist in residence, and the all time best poses for artsy is Flowey. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what emotions I was going for - serene? Casual? (Ironically) Reflective?

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills,
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Cosmetics: Beautiful Freak, Frozen Makeover
Eyelashes: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Daniella
Nails: A:S:S, Precious 2
Dress: Lark, Savannah Dress
Shoes: SLink, Quinn

Poses: Flowey

Location: LEA10
Light Settings: Lo Light 04
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Advent of the Holidays

'Tis the season of giving, and getting, and an awful lot of Advent events start the first of December. FabFree has a lovely list of them, but personally I keep a folder of links for east of transport, and to weed out the places which don't suit my style as well. This year I want to try to open advent gifts each day, instead of having them build up, and I even managed to add a few to this look I'd been slowly building around Bare Rose's Bremen Players hunt prize from ages ago. Bare Rose does the best hunts, though I always seem to be missing them despite being in their group; I like the stories as much as I like the outfit one assembles at the end. This dress is a combination of unrigged mesh and flexible prims to make a simply stunning gown; it came with Lola appliers included, and I dearly hope that sooner or later they will include SLink appliers as well. I had to play a bit fast and loose to keep my SLink hands on without an applier, though; I paired lace gloves from Adam n Eve with a copy of the ribbon Bare Rose used at the upper arm to top off the gloves in order to cover the band of flesh where the Adam n Eve gloves ended and the SLink hand ended. I think it's actually fairly seamless from most angles, and the ending effect might be better than simply having glove ends.

My hair was shamelessly poached from a dear friend of mine and is a new release from LCKY, a new-to-me store which re-opened recently. I completely fell it love with it and had to have it the second I saw it; the shape, the flow, it's all so fun and unique. It's rigged mesh, of course, and moves pretty well overall, though the shoulder pieces have a tendency to go through the shoulder depending on the pose. Definitely a store I'll be checking out in the future, though, and they have a couple of men's hairs as well as another woman's hair besides this one. My earrings are day one of Virtual Impressions' Advent Calendar, and I simply love them. The bow is almost offensively shiny, just like actual Christmas ribbons, and I love how the bow is echoed at the earlobe itself. My necklace is actually the packaging for Ginza's Advent Calendar, and quite as enjoyable to wear as the lovely earrings in blue and pink which are contained within it. I love thoughtful packaging, and this one is like getting an extra trinket as well. My poses are from !bang and show the smooth simplicity of her poses off well; I especially like the slight sway to a lot of her poses, which make them look less rigid and posed than the common model types of poses. The lovely place where I took these pictures is hosting another Advent, a slightly more complicated one than the usual. You have to hunt around Sway for little gold stars which have fallen to the ground to give us all notecards with a password, one each for each day of the Advent and each giving a new prize. They are usually charming little items for your home, and this is one of the advents I've been doing for years simply because it's fun.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irenel
Hair: LCKY, Drugs
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Earrings: Virtual Impressions, Advent Gift 1
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Necklace: Ginza Jewelry, Advent Cage 1st
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Gloves: Adam n Eve, Lace Gloves
Dress: Bare Rose, Bremen Hunt Gift
Shoes: SLink, Hera Wrap Heel

Poses: !bang

Location: SwayLand
Light Settings: Phototools, Meni Light 1
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 43 - Beach Club

Beach Club is a really cute color combination, and I ended up with a fun summer outfit even as the weather grows colder. I took the pictures around the Isle of Amras, the roleplaying sim I was staff for which closed recently - we're beginning to make plans for an entirely new roleplay, which looks like it will be a lot of fun and a real change of pace. Probably the most fun thing about it is being part of a large group of people hammering out the details of a fictional world together. Watching the social dynamics, how writing things out work, how having fun and actually getting things done need to be balanced somehow (usually on the backs of our few organized, sensible folk) is very, very fun. It's also exciting to see a bunch of people with very solid opinions and natures go head to head and try to hammer out differences. All in all, I'm having a lot of fun, even if there are the occasional moments of "Mommy and Daddy are fighting. 8( 8( 8(" It helps that everyone is a lot of fun to be around and play with - and I really think that what we make together is going to be amazing. The hard part is setting up the bones to build upon and getting everyone on the same page; once that's done, I think things will go a lot more smoothly. I'm most excited at the thought of having a whole new build to begin to take photographs in, especially one where I have full rezzing rights, so I can set down projectors inside of buildings and really make some awesome images.

My hair is an amazing recent release from Underscore which is very unique and Nordic style. I really liked how the four-strand braid reacted to light and shadows - look at how distinct and round it is. I also really like the curls of the bangs and how the hair is uneven along the top; there's a natural effect to it which I really enjoyed. I'm a huge fan of waist length hair, and this one also comes with a boobs-friendly version as well as one for my ...slightly less busty than Lola's figure. My jewelry is from Virtual Impressions and is one of the lower-price new releases I picked up a while ago; their group is one of the most profitable I've ever joined, as for the first week anything new is release, group members get it on a significant discount. I always get the color-changing version, which comes with a HUD, and the jewelry can also be edited for fine refinements. The surplus of options simply makes me squee. My lacy shorts and hairflower are both from the same place, G Field, which is probably one of my favorite stores of all time. I've been seeing more of her creations hit the major fashion blogs, and it makes me so very happy. My amazing and fun shoes are from SLink and are a perfect fit for my SLink feet (SLink hands also shown). I like how the thin ribbons curl up the ankles and how delicate and summer like they are. Finally, my very cute and bright green nails are from Nine Inch Nails, who has an amazing selection of very pretty, formal and informal nails for pretty much every occasion.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Underscore, Olisa
Flower: G Field, Rose Hairpin
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Wendy
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Shirt: Tiny Bird, St Augustine (dress)
Shorts: G Field, Frill Shorts
Shoes: SLink, Ilena Sandals

Pose: !bang

Location: Isle of Amras (now closed)
Light Settings: Places Betham
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 40: Coffee House

Coffee House is a very sweet color combination - a dark, bitter brown with a greyish aquamarine; at once neutral and colorful. I was able to find things which worked form head to toe, and in honor of the contrast of these two colors I decided to keep my look otherwise fairly basic - no eyeshadow or lipstick, just the bare Izzie's skin I started wearing recently. I had briefly considered doing a whole post about the different skins I tried and what I thought of them, and then life happened and I didn't want to wait on taking a bunch of pictures to get started with my new skin. Since I tend to be very skin-loyal, I wanted this skin to serve me on a number of levels. Firstly, I wanted a tone that I really liked, and this yellowish base with peach overtones was simply perfect for matching my offline skin. Secondly, I wanted a simple nude base; while Izzie's has more eyeliner than I tend to prefer, it otherwise was perfect - the lips are only slightly pinker, and thus could easily be a natural tone. Thirdly, I needed features which worked with my somewhat unique features; my lips are thinner than the norm on Second Life, and my eyes are differently shaped - to better match my actual eyes - and that can distort many skins on my mesh. Again, as you can see, Izzie's fit the bill perfectly. Finally, I wanted a blond brow that was on the skin, so that I had all of my tattoo layers available for cosmetics, and Izzie's kindly comes with no-brow and different natural-brow shades on the skin. I've been really happy with how it's worked int he last half-dozen shoots, and so I'm ready to settle in with this as my next, semi-permanent skin and begin re-titing all of my HUDs and accessories. Ah, the life of a fashionista.

I took advantage of the blond brow by wearing this gorgeous recent release from Wasabi Pills, a rigged mesh short hairstyle with tintable hairband - which I tinted the proper shade of brown - included. My jewelry is an old, HUD recolorable set from Virtual Impressions, one of my many purchases since joining her excellent group - if you like having a wide variety of interesting and adaptable jewelry in your inventory, I highly recommend you join as well and take advantage of the sale price on new releases given to all group members, as well as the generous group gifts. My dress is from a new-to-me store called Panda Candy, which I found through an unsolicited notecard drop; it's a very simple gown accented by an unrigged, partially mesh belt with some flat prim attachments; the gown moved very well, but the belt could be a bit more finicky, and I repositioned it for most of these images so that it would seem to fall naturally around my hips. I would have loved to see it instead incorporated into the gown, perhaps unwrapped on a separate face so it could be tinted separately as I did here, but overall it's a store I'll be keeping my eye on. Finally, my fun shoes are on sale right now (yes, I actually managed to blog a deal while it was going on; I hope you didn't hit your head when you fainted) from Felicity. They're unrigged, HUD driven shoes with a whole slew of options, so hurry and check them out. Also, you would not believe how important angle is in the picture I took of them.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Metallic Fade
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Cheryl
Dress: Panda Candy, Haruki
Shoes: Felicity, Shayna (Steals and Deals)

Pose: Grafica

Location: Calas Galadhon: Armenelos
Light Settings: Nacon's Natural 10 am
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL Disney Bound – Week Twenty Three: Carl & Ellie

I hit the wall with this last couples' challenge, and so I figured Carl tied some balloons to his pants and floated away, leaving Ellie to look for him. This is a look inspired by Ellie's more mature look, as she and Carl were dating as teenagers, so still a young Ellie but a little more grown up. I ended up taking advantage of one of the picture perfect houses at the newest MadPea build, Lennon Park, for their Lennon Park Massacre game. It's going on until the end of the month, and I hope you find my blog - with a few gentle hints - helpful.I really enjoyed exploring the sim and finding all of the interesting ins and outs - all of the places so perfectly built and accessorized that they're a dream to photograph. I tried to have a lot of fun with shadows this time, focusing on places near windows or outdoors in order to maximize the effect. I was both aided and inhibited by the number of trees - and ended up derendering a particularly huge tree to give myself a little more light. The texture re-rezzing glitch was definitely a frustration and bugaboo, though; it took three restarts and two days for this set.

My hair is a short cut from Wasabi Pills in an unusual shade of brown for me - I thought it matched Ellie's rather well - and the flyaway bangs and thin tendrils at the edges look so natural. I am not normally a short hair kind of girl, but  loved the headband on this which I tinted (via the included HUD) to match this gorgeous dress from Zaara. The texturing on this dress is amazing, a delicate pattern of flowers, stems, and a corona of gold on a long, exquisitely built maxi dress. I particularly like the detail on the shoulder, with the ends of the strings dangling. Like most maxi dresses, it moves a bit strangely when your knees bend, but that's more a flaw of Second Life rigging, and sometimes it actually works more than expected. My jewelry was a group gift from Virtual Impressions which is no longer available, but a new one is up for everyone; she is one of the most generous jewelers on the grid, and her designs are often as simple and sweet as this one, but with HUD driven texture changes. Finally, my shiny gold shoes - which you will be seeing again in other colors and outfits which show off the top, because it is awesome calf wrapping - are a new release from Felicity which are really fun and delicate in design.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Claudette
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Boom, Midas Touch Liner
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Lights
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Adelle in Gold
Dress: Zaara, Ritika Maxi Dress
Shoes: Felicity, Raquel

Pose: Adorkable Poses

Location: Lennon Park Massacre - Staff Cabin
Light Settings: Abracadabra3
Water Settings: Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 32: Evening Preserves

This adorable dress from Pink Outfitters was sold at the food faire (since ended), and I fell in love with it on sight. The pattern is cute and highlights one of my favorite fruits, the shape of the neck and shoulders is good, and I love the ruffle - which is short enough to be flirty, but not short enough to show too much off. It;s not often I get to encompass a Twisted Color pairing in one outfit, but I think this one captures Evening Preserves even if it's not the usual kind of fruit and there's a lot of gold along for the ride with the orange). I paired it with these thigh-high sock boots from Souzou Eien, though I don't think the color is quiiiite right, edging from a tealish green more toward a perfect green. I love the sockish-effect of the boots, though, and am strongly reminded of some of my favorite accessories from G Field, which were socks to put on over shoes released before mesh was even a dream. My hair is probably th emost perfect bit of Evening Preserves, though - this is a single hair from Analog Dog, but she released a set of colors with fades and this teal-to-orange was simply perfection. I love how it's an imaginative updo, with big and bold curves that really take full advantage of doing hair color fades.

My wings are an amazing new release from Illusions - right now the rainbow version are out for the Taste the Rainbow Hunt, but soon the whole set, with on-touch color changing capabilities, will be up for sale - and you all should buy them like tons of times. I love the curves and curls, and the texture just makes me incredibly happy, like little scales each catching the light at different angles. It's also modifiable, and the veins and membrane can be tinted separately so that you can match anything. Finally, my jewelry is a totally tintable set from Virtual Impressions with pearls and curving gems. I love how many options there are with Virtual Impressions, since it means it can be remade to work with so many different outfits.

One of the funny things about Second Life photography is that like offline photography there is the moments one is caught up in taking the shots, where each shot is it's own world, and then there's the wakeup the next morning when one looks at them all together uploaded, and things which didn't stand out suddenly are totally obvious. In this case, the dimness of these pictures wasn't obvious to me until I was looking at them today post-upload, and I realized one was brightly lit by the on-sim lighting and the rest were decidedly dim and somber. While I don't consider this high art, I do think it is by nature artistic and that often what our mood is reflects itself in what we create simply because it's what seems the most natural at the time. One effect of the lack of post-processing that I do is that I can't post-hoc correct for things I notice later. One bonus is that my level of photographic skill is always reflected back to me in the shadows of my avatar's eyes.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Analog Dog, Tunnel Cake
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Cleo's Sooty Olivine
Lipstick: Pididdle, LipCreme Peaches
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Dionne
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Flair, Set 98
Dress: Pink Outfitters, Foodie Tahnk Dress
Stockings: deviousMind, Sweet Rose Valentine (Taste the Rainbow Hunt)
Shoes: Souzou Eien, Leg Warmer Heels

Poses: !bang

Location: Sea Salts
Light Settings: Phototools - Quiddich
Water Settings: NB, Sparkling Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 26: Plums and Berries

I'm running a bit late on my challenges again, but I had a lot of fun with this one - Plums and Berries - and it's a really gorgeous, subtle pink and purple color combination. It's actually a very simple setup on my part; the purple is from Wishbox, her gorgeous Coquette dress which is one of her older releases. I love the combination of lace and shadowy satin on this, along with darker satin ribbons, and the amazing ribbon around the neck. She's managed to work prims so carefully that is could appear like mesh - especially along the arms and the neck, but this is all static prims and flexi - astonishing, isn't it? I'm also continuing my play with shadows and seeing how they work out across the grid. I definitely slow down when they're turned on, but they add a verisimilitude which is difficult to resist. I definitely feel like a novice, though, starting over from the beginning again with a new set of toys. I may end up shifting around some of my facial features as well - I'm noticing flaws in the mesh more than I used to, and they're harder to combat with shadows in play, especially around the nose; I think I can correct for some of them, so we'll see what happens. Being able to use shadows has really change the entire tenor of my work, and I can see why so many people were so enthusiastic about it. I pity my poor computer, though.

The pink half of the equation comes in three places, and are a little more overpowered by the purple than I had planned, but I think they are each lovely on their own. My wings, a new release from Deviance, are the first mesh wing's I've seen that give serious competition to my longstanding Fancy Fairy wings. I picked them up in white, and they tint beautifully. My one complaint is the shape of the tines - since they are wide and narrow, they look more like curled wire than the veins of wings, which is awesome for anyone going for a human-realistic look, but which belie the fact I'm aiming for a natural fantastical look. I love how they take up shadows, though, and how the shadow they cast isn't the blockiness of flat prim wings but rather curled and shaped like actual wings. It's a tempting combination. The second set of pink is this gorgeous formal jewelry set from Virtual Impressions, which was on sale to her store group. I love the high collar effect of the necklace, and how the pearls can be tinted a gorgeous array of colors. They do come default full bright, but they're editable so you can remove that easily. She does a gorgeous chain, and the pattern of large pearls and small is really striking - I'm very glad I started picking up her jewelry. Finally, I have pink on my toes in a set of shoes from katat0nik which I simply adore - I took a close up you can see in the set for this photoshoot, and I think you're agree they are without parallel.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jamie Mesh
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyeshadow: MiaSnow, dark 1 purple
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor Hopbush
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Silvia
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Dress: Wishbox, Coquette Purple
Shoes: katat0nik, Wingtip Mary Janes

Poses: Flowey

Location: Leroy
Light Settings: Phototool - B/W Light
Water Settings: TOR, Eyeballin'

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 20 - Simply Cider

Simply Cider is a fun Twisted Color combination. I actually had the outfit set up, but ended up spending most of Saturday in a meeting and then the rest of the night as an awesome alpaca dancing in a row. One of the things I continue to love about Second Life is how untethered we are with out appearance - how in a moment's notice I can become something entirely transformed. Evens light changes can be unnerving, like adding these new eyes from Rue in, giving me dark, catlike eyes. She has a whole slew of releases, all of them the eyeballs which means that you can mix and match, but I stuck with a single set - the closest to rainbow. Aren't they gorgeous? Along with unnerving - the inclusion of black instead of the usual white really catches me off guard, looking at myself. I'm used to a much more innocent, less alien Deoridhe. My hair is from Wasabi Pills, a short, almost birdlike affair which adds to the disquiet; I think of myself as having long hair, so whenever I don a short hairstyle it's always an enormous change. My dress is an incredible release from Valentina E Couture, who has really come into her own with mesh clothing. I love the ribbon around the waist, and the dual-colored hem. My one complaint is how far down the invisible layer goes - far enough that I took it off for the picture below so that my upper legs are visible.

My shoes are a very old set from Alice Project, and I still simply adore them. They have so many options they still blow me away - you can change between the stiletto above to a wedge, in an enormous variety of colors; I pull them out every now and then simply because I love them, and the band over the toe of the shoe is perfect for dual color outfits. My jewelry, which is amazing, is another color changing marvel, this time from Virtual Impressions which has quickly become a favorite. It's also dual colorable, with a delicate winding pattern to it which is really enchanting. The store has some wonderful group gifts, which also allow you to pick up some fantastic sets with a lot of options for much less than expected. My nails are from Nine Inch Nails, a very new store with some amazing options for your nails. I particularly liked these divided nails, with the lace across the divide, and couldn't resist picking up several other similar styles. As time goes on, the additions for SLink nails are becoming more ornate and beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what creators come up with next.

patt

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: Rue, Pluto: Radium
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Brown & Purple
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick : Mock, Lucir Lipcolor
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Skye
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Valentina E Couture, Berries Dress Grape (Liason Collaborative)
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Cindy
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Stockings: Vextra Messing, Sheer Stockings
Shoes: Alice Project, Faelin Pumps

Poses: Glitterati

Location: .XVIMCI
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

RFL: Artemis at Ephesus

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Teleport Point) is sponsored by Leri Miles Designs.

Artemis, called Diana by the Romans, was the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, known for her purity, virginity, and care for women in childbirth, though the Artemis worshiped at Ephesus has older origins than the twin of Apollo and was portrayed as a many-breasted goddess, and her connection with the goddess the Greeks called Artemis is a slender thread. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is an ancient site, it's first building dating back to the bronze age and claimed as a holy site for the Amazons, legendary women who lived in a martial, matriarchal society who were historical enemies of the Greeks whose writings about them survive. The original temple was destroyed by a flood in the seventh century B.C.E. and rebuilt around 500 B.C.E. in about ten years. It fell to fire next - specifically arson, a destruction which lasted for about the same span of time. The final rebuilding began in the 300s B.C.E., and was larger and grander than any of it's previous forms with sculptures from many of the contemporary artists of the time. Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the seven ancient wonders of the world, said of its third incarnation:

"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand".

It survived some six hundred years before the Goths brought it to the end in a raid. The Hagia Sophia, in fact, gained some of it's columns from the Temple of Artemis after it's destruction. Now, only a single column made up of scraps from the temple remains on its original site, but reproductions have been made around the world.

This was by far the easiest sim for me to navigate to date, as all of the stores are organized on three of four sides of the square around the reproduction of the Temple. I'm clearly a picky, persnickety person, as now that I got what I wanted - an easy to navigate sim - I was caught up with complaints about it's simplicity! Unable to be pleased, that is clearly me. The Temple itself is lovely. While I wish some of the effect of the carvings at the base of the columns could have been represented, the leaf pattern used was lovely; and while I would have loved to see the iconic figure of the Goddess of Ephesus represented in Second Life, there were some original and pre-fabricated sculptures in place within the temple.

The outfit I'm wearing is a novelly put together top, belt, and skirt from AlaFolie available in a wide variety of colors. The color I'm wearing is the one for sale for a donation to RFL, though the ad on the board shows two very different colors from this one. The neat thing about it is how it's piecemeal - with the dress coming in three parts, you can mix and match with other items easily. Just a heads up, it's transfer ok/no copy, so don't be surprised when you open it! The jewelry is from Virtual Impressions, a new-to-me store with some really amazing options. I'm wearing a completely texture-change set; there are a bunch of colors to pick from, and you can tint the large gem separately from the surrounding ones. It's also transfer-ok/no copy, just as a heads up. It is also fullbright out of the box, but you have modifying rights, so that can easily be fixed. Finally, I'm wearing a tanner skin with a gorgeous cosmetic set from Belleza in shades of teal. I had originally picked the teal to match the color of the dress I thought I'd gotten from AlaFolie, but I think it works just as well with the mustard shade! A nice bit of contrast to make my look more interesting.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Belleza, Amy Med FFL 0 (RFL Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 04-A
Eyeliner: Squeek!, Eyeliner Yellow
Hair: Truth, BabyDoll
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Honour Jewelry (RFL Donation)
Dress: AlaFolie, Veronique (RFL Donation)
Shoes: NYU, Collared Bow Heels

Poses: !bang

Location: RFL: Artemis at Ephesus
Light Settings: Places Duskwood

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only