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Xirana's Studio |
Xirana Oximoxi aka in RL, Nuria Vives is an painter and illustrator of children's books. When I met her she was hesitant about exhibiting in SL. But since then she has over six exhibits in different sims to showcase her prolific works. Here are some of her landmarks: Xirana's Studio in Cassowarry, East Galleries, Virtual Soho Manhattan, and at Bay City.
To view more of Xirana's works and process in RL, click to visit her website and her Facebook page.
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| At Gallery 24 |
What kind of artist are you? and what medium do you work in?
I am an eclectic artist and if I have to choose a style I prefer it would be Expressionism because one of the most important goals for me is the communication of emotions through my work without being subject to a strict 'realistic' representation. I usually work with different techniques, oil, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, ink, pastel, depending on the type of work and the results I want to achieve. I like to experiment. Currently I am also using digital techniques, but in general, even in the latter case, I usually mix techniques if I feel that the work of art I'm doing can improve its results.
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| Slide show of children's book illustrations in the small room |
What is your process? Do you work from photos? Do you work from life? How do you approach your art?
My art is closely linked to my life so, depending on my different moods or the interests at any given time, I will work one way or another. The fact that a topic, for example, a landscape and its light, awakens my interest does not mean that I will try to reproduce it faithfully on the canvas. My goal is to be able to transmit, through painting, the emotions that that landscape has made me feel. I have painted outdoors, but I always finished my paintings in the studio. When I paint abstract, it is like a game of chance. I let the painting itself suggest the way to follow until, intuitively, I get some images that tell me something, that move me. It’s a way to externalize my inner landscapes.
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| View the slide show of one of Xirana's children's book |
To paint is often a way of exploration and discovery. This scanning process has made me evolve and has led me to discover new professional challenges in the field of illustration. Currently my work focuses on the illustration of fairytales that I also write. The process here is different. For example, to create a character, you need to imagine it in different situations. If it is an animal, a giraffe, a mouse, a cat or a dog ... I look for photos on the internet and try to know perfectly their anatomy to be able to imagine them in different situations. It is very difficult to find photos of the characters you want to draw in the position that you need for each scene of the story. You cannot find a mouse riding a bike or a snowman flying.
Did you have any formal training in art? If so, what university? If not did you take workshops or learned from books?
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| Abstract flower paintings |
I have a degree of Catalan Philology but I have not followed university Art studies. My training in this field has been self-taught, but many years ago I trained in the studio of a painter and I frequented workshops. In fact, as you can verify by what I’ve just explained, I'm still learning. For example, I am currently learning to master the techniques and the use of a digital tablet.
What is your earliest experience with art that you remembered that mark your path into becoming an artist? Who influenced you to be an artist? A family member, a teacher....
My grandfather painted and at home we had some of his paintings. When I was child, at school, all margins of my notebooks were full of drawings. As an adult, painting was like a therapy for me and due to an excess of optimism, at some point, I decided that maybe I could become a professional artist. I made this decision conditioned by the fact that at that time I knew some painters in Catalonia who were earning a good living by painting.
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| Cityscapes paintings |
What is your reason to exhibit in Second Life? and what is your experience had been? Any positive or negative. And has exhibiting in SL affected your RL art?
To exhibit in SL is another way of presenting my work. It is a 3D virtual world that allows you to meet people from all over the world, to interact and share with them what you do. It is also an incentive to continue working. When you find people (I never forget that behind every avatar there is a person) who are interested in what you do and invite you to participate in an exhibition or in an event related to art and culture, it is really rewarding.
If you enjoyed this interview, please click "Like". And better yet, leave a comment! You can IM Xirana Oximoxi or myself, Kayly Iali or visit Gallery 24 and leave a comment in the book.
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