Monday, November 16, 2009

ACQUARELLA Open Studio



Alizarin Goldflake will hold an Open Studio at Atelier Alizarin on Saturday, November 28, 3 - 5 pm PDT, for "Acquarella," her latest immersive art build. Win a L$1,500 prize!! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/204/203/333

"When I was a child, I kept an aquarium and I would stare into it for hours, mesmerized by it then as I am now by Second Life, a magical weightless world populated by strange and beautiful creatures." These memories were the inspiration behind the creation of "Acquarella." An aquarium on a cosmic scale, "Acquarella" is filled with swaying, lacey aquatic plants, schools of neon tetras, animated angelfish and goldfish, drifts of diatoms, and huge green lily pads that bob up and down in the invisible current. The build echoes with the songs of whales. Pose balls invite people to swim to their music, and throughout, there are traces of an untold story. A fragment of a submarine that torpedoed itself hints at an apocalyptic destruction that could possibly be a metaphor. Who is hunting whom with those ghostly sonar pings? Why does color sometimes creep into a largely monochrome vision? How to explain the fact that the black and white tetras school, while their rainbow-hued counterparts are solitary? Who is Acquarella? Is she a giantess or are we liliputian? People are invited to submit their own back stories via in-world notecard to Alizarin Goldflake or by leaving your story here in the comment box under this post. A panel of 3 judges will choose the most creative story, which will be published via an Art & Artists Network! group notice and will receive a L$1,500 prize on December 28.

There will be champagne and hors d'oeuvres for the realistically-inclined and salsa dancing to the energizing jazz flamenco land music. A careful search of the build will yield a freebie containing one of the exquisite digital drawings.

"Acquarella" employs highly-detailed digital drawings done with Corel Painter software and a Wacom tablet. It uses scripts, animations, and sounds to provide an immersive art experience that is intended to create visual and psychic pleasure for the participant.

Other Atelier Alizarin Attractions include: Orfeo's Oratorio, immersive art and musical kinetics in Sky Studio Night, The Particularium on the third floor, RL digital drawings on the second floor, 2-D digital collages on the first floor, and a beautiful sculpture park on the ground.

2 comments:

  1. Leave your back story here and have a chance at winning L$1,500!!

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  2. Acquarella Story Contest winner: Laurel Leavitt

    The Princess Who Would Never Take a Bath

    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.”

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