Scott

It’s been over 10 years since I created my first website. I used AOL, and my screen name was Brooksini. The site was put together using something called AOL Press. The next incarnation was developed using Net Objects Fusion. A few years later, I got the sgbrooks domain and swore off AOL forever.

Back then, my fine arts and commercial work were featured on the same site. The design was fun and served me well for a few years. Nowadays, I mostly use Dreamweaver, with touchups by Mike.

Fast-forward 10 years. Brooksini has been resurrected in Second Life and has opened Concussions Gallery. It is the first gallery in Second Life specializing in lowbrow art and artists.

The works hangs on the walls of some urban ruins surrounded by a T-shirt shop, a pole dance emporium, and a place that sells skyboxes. The surreal aspects of Second Life appeal to me. It’s very Alice in Wonderland meets Bewitched meets Tron. SL is more like the web than other multiplayer online games, because the content is user created and driven. This makes it good, bad, and ugly. You don’t know who or what you will run into next.

I’ve never been a video game fan, but in one of my previous lives I created 3-D graphics for various projects. Most notably, the character models and animation for the PC game based on the movie Jumanji. For several years I worked for the Navy creating 3-D graphics and animation used in Computer Based Training. Creating 3-D graphics is time consuming, and eventually my illustration and fine arts work took over. I do miss it, and Second Life allows me to build and use the experience I gained from that time.

A special preview will be held in the 3D virtual world of Second Life on Sunday, November 19th, at 6pm EST (3pm PST) at Concussions Gallery. Second Life residents and guests can buy prints “in world” or be among the first to see the new work and have an opportunity to own the original pieces.

This is a giant “Mecha Mouse” doing its best impression of Liberty. It’s by far the most visible landmark of the gallery and can be seen from quite a distance. According to my webstats someone from Disney was poking around my site the other day. Coincidence? Hmmm…

If you’d like to dive into Second Life, drop me an email, and I can meet you there. It cost nothing. Just pick a name for your avatar, and download the software on your machine. There are photos on Flickr and video on YouTube. Do a search for “Second Life”.

If you’re an artist and interested in exhibiting at Concussions Gallery in Second Life, contact me here or “in world.”

This is the piece that will be in the Juxtapoz ad promoting the show.

It’s going to be a crazy couple months. I’m finishing up all the work for this show, as well as several illustration projects.

Artomatic has been scrapped this year, and I’ve opted out of the Mid City Artists Open Studios. I hope to finish all the work for the show by the end of this month to give me a few weeks to do some promotion on my own.

Several picture book projects are just on the horizon, and it looks like I may have as many as 3 coming out next year. Negotiations are ongoing.

A few weeks back I was able to spend a few days up at the Hermitage, an authentic recreation or rebuilding of a rural 18th century Pennsylvania Dutch homestead. Frederick had been asked to homestead-sit and put out a call. I’d been wanting to visit, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Frederick and Zippy

The rain kept me inside painting, which was my goal all along. I took up several canvases but ended up working on just one. With no electricity, it was tough to work at night. I had a nice little studio just steps from the brand new shed I claimed.

Sneak peek of a piece for my upcoming show at La Luz.

A large flock of turkeys wander around, as do the occasional ducks, chickens, and geese. I may have been bad luck, because it seemed like every time we turned around something with feathers was dead on the road. Either road kill or a casualty of something more sinister, a coyote or the local feral dog, aka “Riley”.

I collected fresh eggs from the chicken coop—quite an experience—but they were great. I introduced Frederick to “eggies in the basket”, a breakfast my dad used to cook for me and made famous more recently in the movie “V for Vendetta”.

It was creepy at night. I was in a small brand new shed, but the very first night I didn’t have the door latched. When the winds kicked up, it blew wide open and scared the shit out of me. I’ve camped all my life, in some very remote places, but this place was so old it seemed that the ghosts were out in full force. I’m spoiled by the luxuries and security of living on the sixth floor, behind numerous doors and locks.

I won’t go into more detail. It was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to going back. Here are a few more pics I took.

The owners have a large collection of doors in the barn, as well as printing presses and looms.

I slept in the new shed is on the left and used the building on the right for my studio.

A country road runs through the middle of the property with the duck pond just across the road.

More info about the Hermitage is here.

I have prints of several drawings available now. They are limited edition archival digital prints. I’m selling them for $60 plus shipping, with print runs of just 50. Liberty, Gluttony, and Anger are 9 x 12 and will be shipped matted and ready for a 12″ x 16″ frame. I have PayPal set up. Email me to get more details.