A-Wakening was open to the public for four hours, during which we have received some very useful feedback and suggestions for further development of the work.  It was a great opportunity to use such a fantastic space, and sincere thanks to all the technical, front of house, and box office staff who made this immersive, environmental installation possible.

Today I have also been making changes to the animation which I am developing for A-Wakening.  The grid effect which I was using previously looked exactly how I wanted it to while editing but looked completely different after a test clip had been rendered.  This time, I am using the same colour to create a moving particle effect, to create the impression of small dots of light moving around the space.  These dots are deliberately  out of focus, to give the impression of dust particles or lighting flares, and to move quickly so that they cannot be perceived fully - contributing to the dreamlike quality of the work.

The Lull is now open.  I decided to make some final changes to the textures of some of the objects which I had created within the space - experimenting with the lighting and repetition options within the software to modify some of the default sets available through the viewer.  This has given me lots of ideas for creating works in Second Life in the future.

Over the last few days I have been embracing the possibilities of Second Life and allowing myself to work in a more appropriate way within the space.  The box-type 'rooms' are gone, as a way of ensuring that the space is as immersive as possible and that the transitions between spaces are more informal and seamless.

Over the last couple of days I have been making changes to the environment settings in my Second Life playground, and attempting a few larger-scale works which I am currently describing as my 'sculpture park'.  Thanks to one of my favourite Second Life artists for her advice and also to the LEA committee for their help in making these changes.

After a little break to concentrate on writing and present a conference paper, I returned to my build to make some final adjustments to the throw of the projector beam in my installation and to add some lighting effects in areas which can appear a little dark depending on the time of day which is being represented in Second Life.  All being well, The Lull will be open to the public within the next few days.

Today, I have been looking at ways of creating a projection-style beam of light for my installation.  Unfortunately the methods which I had read about in tutorials didn't work, I think this was due to the black walls and the particles which I am using to create the impression that the space is full of fog.  I decided to make my own beam of light - which needs a little tweaking, but seems to work quite well.  I also made a little projector for the light to come from.

I decided to brighten up my gallery space too - I'm not sure whether it will remain this way, but I thought that it needed a little 'something' other than the plain white walls which I had previously. 

​I'm hoping to have my build finished in the next couple of weeks so that I can open the space up to the virtual public.

Today I have been spending some time learning to script objects in my installation area to behave a little more like projections, fading out and back in again when an avatar is nearby. 

Today, I have been adding some additional landscaping features to the space, and adding some lighting effects.  I was hoping to create a watery space where four different coloured lights would mix to make other colours, but I haven't got the positioning of the lights just right yet.

I have been awarded a three-month land grant in Second Life by the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) through their Core Sim grant scheme.  Commencing in October 2017, this will enable me to progress some of the themes that I have been working on through my PhD research, but take it in a slightly different direction by exploring ideas which are not physically possible in real life.  It has been a while since I have had an opportunity to build in Second Life so I am very excited to see what I can do with the time and space I will have available.