Jaleen Grove

debugging my wiki

2012-01-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here's how it looks in Firefox 9.0.1 - all the pages have instances of this problem where the HR doesn't show up.

Even though it's there in the code, and the code (the dashed line) passes muster:

Illustration's Permanent Homes

2011-11-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered Quentin Blake is in the process of setting up a devoted, permanent illustration museum. Excellent, all for it. But I am mystified why he says it's the first in the world. The Cutlers have done their best to do the same in the USA in their own way. The Norman Rockwell Museum isn't just about Rockwell. The Society of Illustrators' Museum of American Illustration is public. There are other institutions in the US that support subfields of illustration, such as the Eric Carle Museum and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. In Europe, there is Museo ABC.

I also find it odd that Blake's group has chosen the name "House of Illustration," as this seems to tread awfully close to Illustration House, which as a private commercial gallery has been a fixture for nearly 40 years.

I'm all for the more the merrier, but this kind of cultural poaching is not very merry. If we're to collectively work on the much needed effort to make illustration as valued as other arts, respecting our peers is essential.

I commend Quentin Blake for his efforts. Perhaps he just didn't do his research and the mistakes are innocent. I hope he revises his PR to more truly reflect the situation, and I invite him to reach out to fellow institutions to make a strong network that would help him achieve his goals.

Oscar Cahén: Oct 1-30 - installed!

2011-10-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, waiting for one thing still.

Giving a Talk on Russell Patterson, Oct 2

2011-09-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

If you're in Massachusetts it would be lovely to see you for tea, at the Norman Rockwell Museum on Sunday, Oct. 2. I will be giving the following talk:

Sex, Booze, and All That Jazz:
The Humorous Illustration of Russell Patterson

This illustrated lecture presents the work of Russell Patterson with over 50 images and a film clip. We will examine how his cartoons of the “Patterson Girl” from the 1920s and 30s, like the earlier Gibson Girl, paradoxically symbolized both the excess and the containment of female sexuality in popular culture.

Russell Patterson’s girlie drawings were symptomatic of shifts in courtship, class behaviors, commercial culture, and changing conditions in the field of illustration following World War 1. Patterson helped redefine modern beauty standards and gender performance in comics, puppet shows, advertising, magazines, interior design, fashion design, and beauty contests.

Patterson’s illustrations were a response to a new norm, where illustrators were faced with models’ unprecedented sexual and business autonomy. The tension between the sexes in his work is reflective of the displacement of illustrated print media by the camera and the very models he had helped promote. The increasing tawdriness of his depictions of women may be seen as an attempt to hang on to power by showing what the camera could not, as well as a misogynist mocking of the very sexuality his illustrations celebrate. Widely imitated and famous in his day, Patterson’s masterful black and white line drawings express the rebellious spirit of the jazz age so outrageously that they still charm—and raise eyebrows—today.

Sunday, October 2 at 2:30 p.m.

Norman Rockwell Museum

http://www.nrm.org/2011/09/rockwell-center-tea-and-talk/

Giving a Talk on Robert Weaver Sept 29

2011-09-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Robert Weaver remains one of the more controversial figures in the illustration world. If you're in St Louis, I hope you will come to my presentation:

Blind Spots:
Robert Weaver and Juxtapositions of
Art and Illustration

In the 1950s, renowned illustrator Robert Weaver introduced into magazine illustration a painterliness and immediacy that related it to contemporary art. This put him in the controversial middle between gallery and illustration worlds at exactly the moment when commercial art was being held up by art and culture critics as the epitome of evil. Outspoken Weaver berated both illustrators and modern artists for their respective blind spots, and drove himself to keep looking where others were not. Throughout his life he eschewed singularity of vision for juxtaposition, revealing unseen third meanings. Then, as Weaver developed his interest in the relationship between diachronic and synchronic time and fractured vision, his eyesight began to deteriorate, leaving him seriously visually impaired. Still, he continued making art and speaking out, overcoming his own blind spots. In this talk I will survey Weaver’s career and work, and discuss his all-important defense of illustration as an art form.

Thursday, September 29, 4:30 p.m.
Ginkgo Reading Room, Olin Library, Level 1

Washington University, St Louis

FREE!

Oscar Cahén: Oct 1-30

2011-09-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've had my head down working on this project for the last month.... very much looking forward to presenting Oscar Cahén's illustrations from the 1940s and 1950s at Illustration House in New York. We had over 100 original works to go through to select these 35 or so. They're amazing. I've never seen such a versatile illustrator before.
Cahén is to Canadian illustrators what a mixture of Beckhoff, Weaver, Martin Stone, Steinberg and Peak would have been to Americans. He just never got recognition in the US because he did almost all his work for Canadian publications. The Toronto Art Directors Club, however, recognized him every year in multiple awards.
I'm writing a 10,000 word essay to go in a full colour catalogue. Web site is here.

"Bad drawing"

2011-07-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

We're having a discussion on Leif Peng's blog about the merits of "bad drawing" and when that started to be acceptable. Leif suggested Ben Shahn was the igniter. I have argued that sloppy drawing was in vogue in left-leaning circles going back to Daumier. To support my case, here are three cartoons from the New Yorker from the 1920s. I concede these are cartoons and so the artists had more leeway to break rules; Shahn certainly managed to get it into "respectable" illustration.

Local art show

2011-06-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I have this work, titled Sleeping Beauty, in the local juried art show Art in the County. It is on display until July 3rd, at the Old Town Hall in Picton.

Jaleen in Chinatown

2011-06-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

This image was taken June 5, 2011 by Raymond St Arnaud. It is for a book he's making of members and ex-members of the Island Illustrators Society, which I belonged to 1991-1997, and about which I wrote my MA thesis. The location is Victoria's Chinatown. My husband George and I had a studio there, and my Grandad had a very funky old books and antiques shop there too throughout my childhood. The window above my head is a studio (once a gambling hall with secret exits and all) where the designer JC Scott hosted many years of an annual erotic art show (held on April Fool's Day). That's the first or second place I ever exhibited artwork in Victoria. And down Fantan Alley I used to model for my friend painter Glenn Howarth. Incidentally, my rebellious great grandmother was known to run through the alley on a dare, in the roaring twenties, when no respectable white woman would be seen in such a place (opium was legal there once). The fuschia cocktail dress speaks to all that history. The image on my computer is my own artwork, an illustration made in 2001 for User Friendly, where I was staff artist. I showed it at the NY Society of Illustrators in Nov 2010. Thanks to Raymond for the excellent work, Island Illustrators past and present, and Fantan Cafe for keeping the lights on ten minutes longer for us.

Victorian thank you letter

2011-05-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

This is a page out of a 1891 handmade book thanking Adam Brown, prominent citizen of the City of Hamilton, for his contributions. I believe he was grandfather of illustrator Arthur William Brown. Adam's wife was a seminal influence of the founding of the Hamilton Art School.

Island Illustrators portraits

2011-05-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

When I began my professional art career full time in 1990, I joined the Island Illustrators Society in Victoria BC. I served as Editor of the bi-monthly newsletter, and then as President in 1996. Then I moved away. In 2006 I wrote my Masters thesis on the history of the Society and the way they defined illustration and art.

Raymond St Arnaud, another member, has a lovely batch of photographic portraits of current and ex-members here. Pictured above is Barb Weaver Bosson, who with her husband Vic, has been the member of the longest standing.

My Jack Layton portrait.

2011-05-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Share it.

I'm giving a talk Friday April 29th on Chatelaine Magazine

2011-04-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

I spent all day editing my presentation and making the powerpoint. It came out to 74 slides! I'll be mainly discussing the careers of Chatelaine's women illustrators 1928-1932, which was a high point for them. After that, the Depression reduced their work by half and women never did get that back, while men continued to get work. I will also be saying a bit about why illustrators in general have been left out of Canadian art history.

The talk will be at the Toronto Arts and Letters Club, around 9pm. Doors open at 8pm.

Image: Marie Cecilia Guard. Happy Easter!

Pathetic!

2011-04-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

The above postage stamp uses a stock photo of the replica statue of Liberty Bringing Enlightenment, according to a BBC report. USPS is unapologetic.

For decades, stamps were a country's proud display of their accomplishment in the arts. Engravers were highly sought after, and artists and photographers were commissioned to do their best. It used to be an honour to be asked. In 2001 USPS issued a series celebrating American illustration. Here is the Rockwell Kent stamp based on Melville's famous book, which among other themes addresses a person's control over their own thoughts and person, ie liberty:

Kent was known for his Communist sympathies, and a rather libertine life. Yet he would never have abided by the Soviet style oppression of liberties, which would have never tolerated Kent's shenanigans in return. He stayed American, his artistic contribution celebrated.

While I'm sure the replica statue photographer is pleased, I doubt he/she made anything more than the same royalty they would have made had it been used for a story in one of those free travel magazines in the back of an airplane seat. Any old shot of Liberty would have sufficed; this person just got lucky that the designer turned them up in a search engine query. I bet the designer at USPS did their own cropping too.

Isn't it a bit hypocritical? Hasn't this nation always championed artistic liberty? Yet by depriving their creative people of the chance to address the theme of liberty in a thoughtful and innovative way, by going with a yawner of an overdone icon long since drained of all but bland unthinking symbolism, they have hampered not just artists' livelihood but liberty of thought too, that is, by not adding to the variety of thought circulating out there.

Conservatives grudgingly had to tolerate Kent, by the way. As they should. Opposition is an important part of thought, of reason, of logic. Liberty allows for opposition in order to refine thought and policy, you know, as in enlightenment.

Stamp art, as representative of good governance, can rightly reflect humanist values. But now they just download something mundane from a corporate stock site. They have taken liberties, not given them. Enlightenment awaits.

[this blog post is dedicated to D.A. :-P]

Postcard reference books

2011-04-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank Michael J. Smith for his excellent reference books on Canadian postcards, especially the one on patriotic cards. I'll also point to vintagepostcards.org for the above image, which I'm borrowing somewhat naughtily for this post.
Michael's boks are chock full of colour reproductions and meticulous cataloguing, and are a great resource for anyone interested in illustrated ephemera. Check out his essay about Canadian cards here.

Library of congress

2011-04-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a strange couple of weeks, with a lot of family events overlapping my trip to Washington. Despite the distractions I came back with lots of new sources and images to work with. This shot is the roof of the Library of Congress's main reading room.

Graphic designers wrestle with consciences

2011-03-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

There's a dust-up in the design community over this poster. The basic issue is: effective and smart way to fundraise, or despicable self-promotion?

Many designers are objecting to the guy who made the poster putting his logo and contact info on it, with no contact info for a charity. He says he is forwarding proceeds from the sale of this poster to Red Cross.

He doesn't specify but we shall assume he is keeping some money to cover the cost of business. How much? We won't ever know.

But hang on. Registered charities don't exactly advertise how much they keep either. Leaving their name off allows the viewer to consider whatever charity they like. As for signing it, I really prefer knowing who is behind a message. AND - since when did designers frown upon other designers receiving credit for their work, not to mention compensation? Haven't we been trying to get those rights through the heads of clients and students and the public?

The designer and purchaser here are also accused of indulging in "disaster porn." This is a paradox that is inherent in visual and even written communication: you can't show something and control exactly how it is to be taken. Some people will always read against the "preferred reading" (author's intent). As for the charge of exploiting a tragedy --- well, that will only hold true if he keeps more money than he'd have been paid by Red Cross if they'd commissioned the poster.

Why do we bother developing our talents if we're only going to be condemned for using them?

small painting

2011-03-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

Comments?

Brilliant.

2011-03-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

satire on new media reading habits
by Aaron Renier

why independent comics have trouble getting off the ground

2011-03-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

....and why public microfinancing might be the new economic model

the case of The New Brighton Archeological Society Book Two

here's the link to the collection-plate

EQUALS

2011-03-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

2011-03-03T17:49:00.000-08:00

Alan Gowans, rogue art historian

2011-03-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

I was excited that someone at UVic remembered and appreciated Alan Gowans enough to get this long overdue memorial together last year. He was a rogue art historian, bold enough to not only completely turn his back on the mega-powerful New York intellectuals of the 1950s (Greenberg et al), but gutsy enough to tell them what was wrong with them too. Unfortunately, few listened. Gowans rewrote art history, putting illustration at its core instead of at the periphery. But his willingness to live on the margins of North America (my hometown, Victoria) and of art theory meant that he did not really join the discourse so much as yell at it from behind a closed door. His best insights were compromised by an off-hand manner, casual writing style, and disregard for citations. One of these days I will return to his work and put it through a rigorous analysis, as it deserves.

More nutty package design

2011-03-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Turkish coffee, complete with traditional Turkish coffee pot, traditional Turkish mosque, traditional-sounding Turkish-ish brand name "Barzula", and traditional Turkish Mexican.

Russian poster collection

2011-03-01T08:04:00.001-08:00

The caption translates as "Let's Build Thoroughly!" As crappy as Soviet Russia turned out to be under Stalin, a lot of the graphics were sure marvelous. We could only dream of such empowered images of women here in North America in the 1930s.

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2011/02/15/hugest-collection-of-soviet-posters/2/

Resurrection of the blog

2011-02-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I chose LiveJournal over Blogger. I have decided to switch back to Blogger because LJ just got silly with ads, spam, and not migrating well to mobile media etc. Plus, more of my friends are now on Blogger.

I'll repost the odd thing from the now defunct LJ blog, but if you were looking for something you remember from there and can't find it, email me.

thesis available in another library!

2007-04-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

University of Victoria has decided my thesis is worthy of their shelves! Yay! Now it might get found by local academics.

comic jam

2007-04-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was comic jam night. We sit in a lame bar that can't decide if it's going to be a fake tudor English pub or a sports bar, with the coldest cocktail waitress ever who frequently ignores us, and we pass paper around doing a panel on each. Sometimes the pages are a total flop and sometimes they are incredibly good. This is a panel I put some effort into. You can see the rest of this page and others from the evening here, but be warned there is extremely offensive material in some of what's there.

2007-04-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of my street today. Compare to Herzog's below, taken around 1958. The Gospel Mission still owns that building. In fact little has changed except for the trees and general decrepitude. As I took this photo some passerby told me off for taking pictures "down here". Reminded me of the first time I took pix down here in 1998 - got told off then too. I usually get away with it, but today I was wearing a suit jacket and holding a big envelope, which made me appear as if not from here.

VAG trip

2007-04-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the art gallery, where there is a superb batch of shows on just now. On the main floor is a show of dramatic photographs from 1840-2004 or so, and it was so great I bought the catalogue. It was exciting because it goes straight to that crossover area between painting, photography, theatre sets, and illustration, an area I've been thinking about writing about for a while. Eve Sussman's video piece on Las Meninas is worth the price of admission.

On the second floor was the work of French/Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping. Not all the works were entirely successful, but some were really well thought out - the two pillars of Tibetan scrolls, for instance. As for the recent controversy over his use of live critters, I can't really take sides. On one hand I don't get particularly upset over the idea of some scorpions and spiders and so on eating some insects in captivity and forced environment. On the other, I disagree with the artist's stance, which is basically, "It's art, don't censor me, fuck off." There's got to be some ethical stance in artmaking. Whether animal rights in this case is an ethical dilemma is hard to determine. But it does make one wonder where to draw the line.

On the third floor was Herzog's wonderful, quiltlike compositions of Vancouver city scenes. The image I have swiped above shows the neighbourhood I live in - my building is just visible at the extreme right side. It's that bright grey one. Those tiny trees in Pigeon Park there are now huge. I'll see if I can get a shot of what it looks like now.

life drawing

2007-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

The model this week looked like Russell Crow. He did a lot of fabulous gladiator poses. I was in a frenetic mood, which suited the poses, but meant I didn't do anything tight.

EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

2007-04-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

SUNY @ Stony Brook has just offered me a placement in their Ph.D programme!!!! - about 10 minutes ago. This comes with a TA-ship and tuition scholarship.

I gave up on them by end of last week. Ironically, the offer came just after I finished 3 hours preparing and sending an application for sessional work at Emily Carr. Good lord.

I have not yet fathomed the idea I'm going to be living in New York in 6 months. It seems unreal.

Hot babes in style... sort of.

2007-04-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Erin and I volunteered as models for Swaporama-rama, a totally wacky second-hand clothing and recycled fashions event. It doesn't get more East Van than this. Here we are, all decked out - once again confirming my belief that makeup makes everyone look older. Not so great, when you're over 35! But it was fun, kind of like dressing up for Hallowe'en.

They did creative things with our hair. We sipped on martinis the whole time. Outside, the crowd paid $5 and a bag of old clothes, in return for being able to take away as much as they wanted. There were also stations set up for sewing and altering and silkscreening and so on.

Here's me, just exiting the catwalk as Erin comes on. All the clothes we modeled were designed by locals from recycled fabrics. Some of the outfits were I liked a lot, but unfortunately my favourite of the ones I was to wear - a lavender wrap-around dress - was stolen before I could model it. It sucks that even at a grassroots, all volunteer event like this that someone would be so mean. The poor designer put a lot of work into that dress and didn't even get to show it off.

wings!

2007-04-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of Jaytri's wings. I feel a bit self conscious with them. Even though they are subtle, wings of any sort are pretty showy. I wish I could find some that aren't so bat-evil looking, actually.

Last night I got in a discussion with a conceptual artist on SL who asked me casually what my thesis was about. When I told him I studied conservative artists like Robert Bateman the conversation got awkward. There's such a high wall in the art world. I tried to have a sane, intelligent exchange of ideas, but as soon as I got too provocative this person bailed. He - jokingly, I hope - said that representationalism was fascist. So I mentioned a book I'm reading right now that suggests current postmodern contemporary art is a kneejerk reaction to Nazi fascism, and that the jerking knee has gone too far, creating another kind of fascism. I asked what he thought of that idea - and that was the end of the conversation! "I'm going to go help so-and-so..." and off he went. I was left feeling annoyed. Something is certainly wrong in art when we can't even talk about these things without getting weirded out.

life drawing

2007-04-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

The life drawing sessions I attend have begun again. There was a hiatus, as the person who hosts these things at his studio was away for a long time. It felt pretty good to be back at it. I find I really like super short poses or super long ones, and little in between. These ones were 2 minutes each. Using black gouache on newsprint. There were only three of us plus the model, and so we goofed off a lot. I like these sessions, which are a little bit word-of-mouth/invite only, because we have great conversations, take long breaks, play excellent music, and drink wine. I'm going to try and go every week.

Thesis in library!

2007-04-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

The central library branch in Victoria has agreed to take my thesis! It will be held in the local history reference room. I was hoping it would go into the stacks, but somewhere is better than nowhere. I have also asked UVic if they will take a copy, but of course, being a U, they won't get back to me for some time....

Folk graphics

2007-04-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

So, this vintage needle package was just given to me. Actually, I had to pay a penny; apparently it is bad luck to receive a needle as a gift. Anyhow, the graphic design and illustration is priceless! Why is there a teepee in the background? Where's the relevance to needles? (Yarn is about knitting, not sewing). Why is there such a strong cast shadow under one dog? What is the purpose of that heavy outline around the cat's head? After closer inspection, it seems the landscape is a mural on an indoor wall, and not a vista beyond a deck as I first thought. So then, is the hole to the needles a window? Why then does it look like a mirror? And who did that crazy bad typesetting? Finally, who on earth uses 109 needles!!!? They are almost all still inside.

All these conundrums, and I have to say that they actually add up to a successful package design, just because they are so many and so varied and so... sincere! in their mediocrity. Makes you want to curl up next to the window and sew!

Easter

2007-04-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's a family tradition in G's family to decorate eggs for easter. Even though the three of us "kids" range from 37-49, my mother in law was determined she was going to get some fresh eggs designs out of us. The horrors of a creative family! These are my two contributions.

My first Second Life sculpture

2007-04-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sugar Seville gave me membership on Odyssey, so now I can start learning how to build stuff. I made this little grove of lollipop trees. Unfortunately I couldn't keep it past the session, because I am still a guest and not really entitled to redecorate the place. Another player told me where I put my grove is supposed to be a walkway soon. But while it lasted I enjoyed sitting there. Here's Jaytri, meditating on the life-decisions her alter-ego Jaleen made this week.

I got hold of a box of wings at a junkyard where they give away free stuff. In there was a pair of transparent batwings, which Jaytri is trying out for fun. I'll take a screenshot soon. I also poked around a bit in other places - I notice most people keep their avatars looking like "normoids", as G calls them. There's this weird selfconsciousness that kicks in - even though we are free to dress as if it's Halloween, SL is a public place and shyness occurs. While mucking about with the freebies, G tried on a free penis - not realizing it was a penis of priapic proportions, one which ignored clothing entirely! There we were, standing in the mall-like atmosphere of the junkyard with strangers shopping nearby, with this huge member suddenly on display. Very satyrical!!! Worse, he couldn't figure out how to take it off! We were eo embarrassed we immediately ported back to the grove to deal with the situation in private. Let me know if you want a screenshot ;)

Underwear for outerwear

2007-04-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

I'll never lose my fondness and sense of connection to Victoria. As soon as I step off the ferry I feel at home. And the little regionalistic characteristics are so familiar and warm to me. For instance, I spotted not one but two individuals within two hours wearing the classic West Coast fashion statement: Stanfields grey woolen longsleeved undershirts worn as sweaters. Loggers are famous for this, but so are treeplanters. I used to wear a cream coloured version, scored in a thrift store, which was met with appreciation by my older planting partner, who declared it a truly vintage item and better made than the modern ones. If I spot another Stanfields guy I'll try and get a pic.

The trees already have new leaves out here, and it was about +20C. :-)

Second Life again

2007-04-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I would find Second Life interesting past the first few hours, but I think I may have been wrong about that! Notice I finally figured out how to get the cybergoth stuff off Jaytri - this is her latest look. Someone I met last night said she looked "ghostly", which is perfect. Ghost in the machine and all. I wish I could make her transparent.

I met up with someone I know from RL, who took me to an artists' compound where he is a member. I'm now a member there too. This place, called Odyssey, houses a gallery with some good art. Finally I find some! A lot of the people are developing highly scripted stuff. Sugar, who runs the place, has this fascinating piece with a chair in it. If you sit in the chair, your avatar gets literally bent out of shape. You have to log out to get it back to normal.

I met a few folks last night, and got a sense of 2nd L being a pretty serious endeavour for a lot of artists, who are moving their RL conceptual practice into the virtual. At some point it becomes difficult to tell the two apart.

Views

2007-04-04T19:48:00.001-07:00

In 1992 I was earning part of my income as an artist's model. I met Lincoln Clarkes because we were showing in the same group show in Victoria. I liked his figurative photos, so I offered to model for him. We did a shoot in an empty house in East Van - the room was very cold and the fire very hot. Lincoln was after a very specific idea. He printed some postcards of this shot and gave me a reject frame to keep for my own - and that was that. Then last year, he told me he wanted to put it in his latest book, which is titled Views. I agreed. Today he dropped off some copies - and I think it's quite ironically funny that I am part of a book as one naked chick among many alongside the properly clothed Pierre Berton, Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Arthur Erickson, William Gibson, and Nicholas Campbell. OH! how my feminist theory heart aches with laughter...

Second Life avatar

2007-04-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have to say that having fun creating an avatar is worth the hassle of joining Second Life. Not that it's much hassle, just that it's yet another place on the web with my email address and some personal info. Sigh. Anyhow, here is my first avatar, Jaytri. I picked the cybergoth template, not realizing I wouldn't be able to change certain things - like her headset, ponytails, and white skin. I might make another avatar, starting with the plainjane girl next door. But for now this is fine. The way her face turned out, she reminds me of someone I once knew who was a real beauty. That person was constantly being hit on. Gee, although I dressed Jaytri in modest clothes, she gets hit on in Second Life too! Rather annoying.

Launch!

2007-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well now I have two blogs! The other is at http://jaleengrove.livejournal.com/. I'm testing to see which one works better. I'll be x-posting, so no need to check both.