New Years Resolutions

Well, I am home from the road trip and back home again in SL. I caught up on my music on New Year's Eve by going and hearing Mel, Cylindrian, Frogg and Jaycatt before going out in RL. Rosa, brought a robot animation that was all the rave. See the picture of all of us doing the Robot Racoon Revival to Frogg and Jay. Now, before going off to the usual drunken, debauchery, my real life has generally become, I thought I would write down some Second Life Resolutions:

1) I will not drink to excess in Second Life and invite friends to talk to me about my great new ideas I have when I have imbibed too much. Note: I will decide what excess is, not others...

2) I will make more tinies. I am afraid I have not embraced the smallness that is inside of me trying to break free.

3) I will wear more purple.

4) I will get one question this year in the mad typing scramble and not be forced to only score points when I am picked in Trivial Obsession.

5) I will not pun as much, instead I will learn dirty limmericks.

6) In order to make my RL Mother happy, I will paint a picture of something she recognizes.

7) I will seduce Philip Linden, come down with SLyphillis and coerce Philip into giving me an island to silence me.

8) I will get my seams straight on my dresses the first time instead of after Eugena 's Quality Control Check! I have a hard time with straight lines it is the curse of being an Abstract Artist.

9) I will to my best to truly kill the communication form know as Blogging.

10) I will try and be a more understanding, caring person in SL. I will actually talk about all the great friends I have in SL, instead of only talking about me, me, me!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Blogging for Dummies, the book Dixie should have bought

Silly Me. No wonder not many people were commenting on my blog. I had it set so only registered bloggers could comment. So, I think it is fixed now. So, entertain me and comment on my blogs! I should have bought a Blogging for Dummies book. Or better yet hired a guide like the statue I am standing next too in the photo. This is a picture of me standing next to a Columbus statue on Liam Serf's new island where Eugena and I have opened a new store. I know many of you are thinking I am just standing there so I can look up his pantaloons, but, it isn't true. I am just trying to see if he can point out a new direction for me in SL. I need all the help I can get...

On The Road & I Wish I Was Home

I am with my parents and my sister, Tori, visiting my grandparents in Green Valley, Arizona. Green Valley is a retirement community just south of Tuscon. It is a very nice, quiet retirement community. Just perfect for Tori and me, a couple of 20 something bon vivants. Ugggh, I love my parents and my grandparents, but, I am feeling a litle BORED. The big planned trip this week is to the Indian Casino just down the road.

Anyway, we had a very nice Christmas and I hope you all did too. Almost everyone got a painting from me. Lucky them! Tori and I bought my Mom a new puppy two weeks ago for her Christmas Gift. We got her a little Bichon Frise named Dulcimea. She is staying with my sister Betsie. Speaking of Betsie, she called us to tell us that she was preggers again. Wooo hooo. I already have a nephew that is hers that I babysit him on Saturdays. He loves flying in SL (he is 4). I am hoping for a niece.

But, enough about real life. I have managed to pull some pictures off my PC at home from my grandparents very spiffy Compaq museum quality computer and decided to try blogging. Second Life with this computer and dial up connection would be rather challenging, but, you can get to the internet and if I am patient maybe I can even finish this Blog.

The big Dixie news is that I have rented a condo. As you may know, I was renting a lovely little condo from Clutch Carson. I was right next to Clutch and Chaos. Clutch decided to sell and I got in one day with no home or explanation. I was suddenly a vagrant. But, as fate would have it, I just happened to be looking out from the front porch of Eugena and my store in Clear and realized that the same exact condo I had moved out of was across the street on the mountain side. The owner is a big land owner in SL and also the owner of a web hosting company. As you would expect from me, I got to know him pretty quickly and am in the midst of setting up a new, SL based website. More to come later.

The house has a lovely view especially if you are a meglomaniac like I am. This is the view from my front porch. You can see the art gallery and the fashion mall. I mean who wouldn't love living across from two giant signs for Dixie! I am now busy creating new furniture for the house. I decided this time to build my own furniture rather than buy it. I will post pictures when it is done or better yet throw a party! Unfortunately during the eviction I lost my funrniture and art. The Lindens stance is that is a problem between two residents and they won't get involved. I pointed out it was a problem with their software not returning my stuff to my lost and found. They said that couldn't happen. Uh huh, ya, right, sure. I asked all my artist friends I had bought from (I had about a dozen pieces I had bought) if they would replace the lost art and they all did. What a great a bunch!

The best part of the neighborhoold I now live in, is the neighbors. While I miss being next to Chaos and seeing his lovely little sailboat bobbing in the water next door, I now am within spitting distance of my super friend and business partner Eugena. Not that I would ever spit on Eugena!!! We can stand on our porches and signal to each other now. This is a picture of my house from Eugena's roof top. Come visit us sometime in Clear.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I will be getting home this next weekend and I will be back in SL. Wish me luck at the Casino.

Organizing Artists Give Me A Break

This week the Gallery Owners Group had their first meeting hosted by Sasun Steinbeck. Sasun does an admirable job trying to herd cats (i.e. get artists to work together). Inherently, most artists are well how should we put this, ummm, errr, uhhh, "unique". So the thought of an association of Artists working together in Second Life to further the acceptance and dare we say business side of art in SL is a challenge at best and a meltdown at worst.

The meeting started out well with Sasun identifying an outline of the subjects we were going to cover and setting a timetable for them. A very sane and rational approach. Unfortunately, the first question was, "What can we do grow art in SL". The 30 or so Art Gallery owners then all started typing at once. People jumped out of the chairs to be heard. Filthy Fluno jumped on the stage with his 4 foot afro and told everybody to touch his afro which handed out landmarks. Everybody then started handing out landmarks. Dixie of course then jumped in the fray and offered everybody membership in her Second Life United Galleries (SLUG) group. A very large dangerous looking Wolf creature wearing armor and carrying a mace offered to Slug me.

Sasun tried to restore order, then she either crashed or somehow was booted. Filthy took over and started letting all the other artists know what he thought of their pathetic attempts at getting art established in SL. People called each other names . A number of artists basically said, "Why can't we all be friends". One of the artists offered to take their clothes off. Another artist suggested that maybe the group was too big for this kind of discussion. I started making very bad jokes about Art Gallery Owners like, "How do you make a small fortune as a Art Gallery Owner in SL" >>> "Start with a very large fortune". One guy said I only make art for art's sake, which led to more ridicule. Then, Sasun logged back in and said "This has been a very good discussion. Has anybody been taking notes." Someone offered to cut the entire history of the debacle, I mean well attended and participative meeting, into a notecard. And so ended the first meeting of the Art Gallery Owners Association, otherwise to be known as, Dysfunctional Avatars Making Noise Art Gallery Owner Group (DAMN AGOG).

You intrepid art reporter,
Dixie Starr
"Starving Artist Quality at Premium Gallery Prices"

P.S. In reality, I took a little journalistic license in covering the meeting for entertainment value. The meeting went very well if being a little rambunctious. Sasun and Filthy did a great job and should get some kind of medal for doing this. Kudos. :)

The Day Blogging Died

Today is the official end of blogging as we all know it. Dixie Starr has decided that the world cannot live without a Starr-ving Artist Blog. Around the globe, you can hear people canceling there blogging acounts. There is a rumor now, that the RSS standard for blogging will be revoked in order to prevent the Dixie Blog from taking effect in cyberspace. There is even fear in the International Business Community as millions, even billions of dollars will be put at risk due to the new Dixie Starr - Starr-ving Artist Blog. The fear is that Dixie's effect on the blogging community and the resulting changes to the RSS standard, and do we dare say it, even the TCP/IP protocal itself will have untold impacts to not only today's technology related markets, but, even have reprecussions to future generations. Or maybe I am taking this "butterfly effect" a little too seriously.

Hi, I am Dixie Starr a Second Life Resident and if you don't know me, shame on you! I have been in Second life almost 6 whole months now and despite an unsuccessful SLuicide attempt am donig well in SL. I think I will love this whole blogging thing, because as all of you that do know me already know, I love to talk about ME. That's right, Dixie did this, Dixie wants that, Dixie plans to do this, Dixie already has tried that, blah, blah, blah.

This past week I have been busy in SL cohosting a Second Life Art Show with Fayadrina Foley at McDunnoughs in Samoa. I have been active in the SL art community for the last 4 months. I have a Gallery in Clear. I have been doing Real Life art for a hobby for the last 10+ years. I am an abstract expressionist, geometric and primitive painter. I actually sell art in RL, as well as, SL as a sideline. But, enough about ME, ME, ME. My stuff was there and sold very well, thank you all that visited.



I have been lucky enough to meet a number of fantastic artists in Second Life and due to my persistance (I always bug people I admire), a number of them showed at that art show. The various people and groups showing were:

Roy Irwin - showed a number of VERY talented artists from his Gallery. Roy represents his partner Karen Zohari, Artside Mainline, Kaela Kalira, and AJ Dinkin. Roy is a great patron of the arts and we are all very excited about how he is marrying the SL art community with the RL international art community from Austrailia, to Holland, to England and now that Dixie will be showing in his Gallery, the Republic of Texas!

Cainin Griffith - the "Big Daddy" of the SL art world. Cainin showed a number of his limited pieces at the show including one that I had bought at one of his outstanding art auctions. I had managed to outbid Sasun "Grand Dame of SL art" Steinbeck and Cylindrian Rutabaga for the piece. He displayed it amongst other outstanding art because it is one of his best and you can't own it. Ha ha, I own it and it was a limited edition and you can't own it. Nah nah nah nah nah. (Sorry a little out of control).

Half Moxing - one of personal favorites and one of the 3000 AD artists. I bought one of his newest to go along with my favorite Half self portrait that I had bought a couple of months ago. Boy, he sure does a lot of self portraits. Makes you wonder (just kidding Half, I love you). Too bad Alto his running buddy couldn't make the show, but, Alto was immersed in another RPG game. What is Alto thinking. Come back to SL baby.

Selaras Partridge another one of my favorites, I have bought over the last year displayed as well. She brought a fantastic artistic, sculpture, painting combination conceptual piece called aquarium that I can't even begin to describe because it was so amazing! If I had the scratch and the room somewhere I certainly would have picked it up. But, I have to stay within my budget, so, it only allows me to pick up one of her landscapes, every now and then.

Roarth Gasparini my fellow Liam Mall compatriate also was kind enough to come show. Though Roarth is mostly known for his outstanding photography he also dabbles in art. Sorry, dabbles is not the right word. He is a very, very good artist. I bought a piece that I just loved called Enlightened. Beautiful and Bold! He brought his creative photography to the show in addition to the art.

Carlo Pimpernel could not make it because he wasn't in Second Life. He was busy visiting London. But, his agent, inara Bethune, showed up and set it up for him. Fantastic stuff. I love it because I have tried the same exact style in some of color texture studies I did a few years ago and can get nowhere close to the level he is at. Once again, I bought a painting for a friend as a Christmas present. It is called Dutch Sailboats (I wonder which friend it could be for) :)

Amythe Moonlight was kind enough to bring out her Christmas collection to the show. It including original Christmas Paintings, and sculptures of a Christmas Tree, Polar Bear, Person Caroling, etc. Great stuff and again I couldn't resist. You guys seeing a pattern here. I don't make money in SL because I am too busy buying. But, boy do I have a lot of fantastic art now.

Silver Click whom I displayed with at the last art show at McDunnoughs made it as well. His oversize art is always some of my favorite and I am so glad he got by to set up.

That will be the end of my first Blog. Now, you know why the warning at the beginning was warrented. Dixie can type, like there is no tomorrow. I just am so excited that the art show came off as well as it did. I can't thank Jed and Fay enough for all their support in partnering with me to host the show at McDunnough's. They are so supportive, as well as, talented individuals in Second Life and I am proud to call them my friends.