Just finished this new digital painting and it deserves at least a couple of comments, since it is unusual in a few important ways. Having been asked to provide at least two digital paintings for DB Bailey’s Cairo project, as mentioned in the previous post, I was immediately led back to an earlier body of work, which seemed far more appropriate for the space and context. There were two limitations, however: the images had to be square, and they had to fit well into their surroundings. The obvious first choice was origami. It fit perfectly. Unfortunately, nothing else from that era even came close.

The only problem then was that the body of work from which this was drawn was almost five years old, and I had since moved on to other things: other ideas, other styles, other worlds. In order for me to fill the other space I was going to have to return to a style of work that I hadn’t worked in for several years. This was an entirely new idea for me – to actually go backwards; I had been moving forward at warp speed for as long as I can remember.

So, over the weekend I set about whipping up a digital melange using whatever I could find lying around the house (well, the external hard drive), and, shazam! this painting appeared in front of me as if out of nowhere. I guess this means that painting is kinda like riding a bike; you just get on and start pedaling. No telling where you might end up, but it sure is fun trying to get there.

Btw, this thing was way too wild for its new surroundings, so I’m getting back on the bicycle and heading out ‘soon’s I finish this to see what I can find. This time I’ll take a ride on the mild side.

You may recall that I had a recent dreamlike experience in SL in which I was summoned in the middle of the night to visit an immense multiplex being designed and built by DB Bailey; actually a virtual replica of a real project to be built in Cairo, Egypt. At the time he actually was in Egypt as well as Second Life, but has since returned to the U.S. after a few months tending to this project, which is still in the planning and development stages. DB (noted architect David Denton in real life) has been using the virtual world as his sketchbook for quite some time, I learned, and actually designs his real world projects using the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) in Second Life. If you’d like to investigate further, this project has been documented in some detail on the architectural website, The Arch Network, where DB has been submitting regular dispatches from Cairo.

Since that night I have visited the site several times; the most recent visit to discuss the selection and placement of some of my digital paintings at key places within the architecture of the multiplex. The actual wall spaces to which these paintings will be applied would measure in real world terms somewhere around 65 to 75 feet square; which means that if the client approves the works, or requests something similar to be created exclusively for theses spaces, they would have to be outputted in large format somewhere in the neighborhood of the size of a three-story billboard. Actually, it would require that new works be done for these spaces because the original files for these works were intended to be output at about the size of a very large canvas for gallery exhibition. Back to the digital drawing board.

Seen overlooking my painting origami from a third floor walkway at the multiplex: Chrome Underwood, Celine Fairport (an art dealer in real life); and architect DB Bailey.

Thought it might be time to focus once again on Juliette, the lovely and loyal subject of much of my attention in Second Life. She is the face and figure of all of my digital artwork, the focal point of my search for the human heart and mind within the avatar. Fortunately for me, though, she is kind, generous, and very, very patient. She has to deal with an obsessive perfectionist, after all, and pulls it off with grace and poise. Can’t figure out how she does it, actually.
Suddenly, however, a new side of her personality has begun to emerge. To give her a break from the lights and cameras I began a series of photo shoots using myself as a blissed-out rock star for the subject of my next painting, and Juliette took one look at those shots and decided she was not gonna be left out of this party. She has long wanted to be on stage, she claimed, and not just as a pretty face. She wants to be a rock star herself, dammit, and then went on to inform me of her considerable musical talent and experience. I was floored. We then, of course, had to go shopping. Women.
The photo above was taken at Bowling Green State University, where she began to unpack and test her new guitar – a classic Stratocaster from KLP Productions, one of the best musical equipment builders in SL. She has been rocking the house ever since; the studio will never be the same. We also picked up a gorgeous set of drums, btw, since she is multi-talented, and, well, drumming runs deep in this family. We’ll talk more about that later, though; looks like this story line has just begun.

It was an odd sort of night to begin with… hadn’t had a very good day at all, in fact; hanging by my fingernails awaiting word from the Santa Barbara Museum on whether they’ll host our digital art exhibit this summer, plus a lot of other kitchen appliances, concrete blocks and other dangerous objects coming at me from every direction. Like I said, not a great day all in all. By the time night fell, so did I; completely exhausted by the day’s events, and in spite of the legend in the title of this site to uphold, I stumbled into bed and fell rather quickly into a deep sleep. It didn’t last long, though, and I soon was wide awake, staring at the ceiling. It was midnight. I had the whole damn, churning, burning night ahead of me.

Rather than stare at the ceiling, though, I thought I might as well enjoy my waking hours; after all, midnight in America is just another noon in Rangoon. I cracked open my laptop and logged into Second Life. Not having the energy or the clarity of mind to do much else, I thought I’d clean up the old studio. Things had gotten out of hand in there, and I thought it might be nice to wake up to a spanking clean workplace in the, ummm, morning.

Then, blam, an IM out of nowhere: Hey, Chrome; what are you doing? You busy? It was my good friend, DB Bailey.

Well, not real busy, DB; kind of a make busy whaddayado-in-the-middle-of-the-night sort of busy. Why? What you up to?

Now, I knew he was in Cairo, Egypt at the moment, designing a new billion-dollar multi-use complex in the desert for some Egyptian sheiks. Of course, I also knew he also did much of his designing in Second Life, so when he asked me if I wanted to come over and see what he was building I leaped into my magic teleporter and scooted on over there.

Holy Mecca! This was a build to behold. It sprawled across the blazing desert, filled with shops, multiplex theaters, hotels, markets, you name it. Since I couldn’t take it all in just by wandering around the place, DB summoned his Egyptian assistant, who flew off to the main office to retrieve the master plan; as soon as she landed, he rezzed it up for me. Amazing. Astounding. Immense.

Another interesting note to finish off this dream: DB told me that he had arranged for his clients to come into SL, get their avatars and a bit of basic training, and then he took them all on a tour of the masterpiece he had created. They wandered around, a bit stunned, looking into every doorway, staring up at every palm tree, examining every authentic regional ceramic tile. They were inside the magical version of the complex that would soon be teeming with people in the “real world.” What a dream; even though no one’ll believe it, thought I’d tell it anyway.