Landscaping!

Landscaping in SL is a hobby and a creative outlet for me. Sharon and E both have some prims (the basic building units of SL) on the land, but I'm the one who randomly redesigns it. I -usually- stick to a seasonal time frame for my changes, but sometimes I just get the urge to shake things up. This is my latest land build.

For this build, I've divided the actual land into 4 distinct zones: Faery, Beach, Waterfall, Asian. Sharon's area is at the edge of the Asian area, naturally.

First up: the Faery Area!

This is the side view, looking from the edge of my land inward. The rocky bit at the bottom is mountain area.

This is looking from the back of the land out toward sea--yes, that's a faery ring!

This is a view from the mountains inward--just a pretty close-up shot.

And this is the inlet from the sea, looking toward the back of the land. 

 I didn't build all of the things I have out. I did lay out a land map--a tool that creates sculpted prims ('sculpt' echoing real life sculpting, but modeled on computers) that 'map' the land and conform to its contours. So first, I had to terraform my land (yes, just like happens in sci fi novels!) to the shape I wanted, then I had to lay out the land map, and then I had to figure out which textures to put where to make the mountains and grass. You can see, in the bottom left-hand corner of the last picture in that group, where the grass changes to a darker green--that's what normal SL grassy land looks like, and my prims are over top. After I got that laid out, I then put out trees and sitting areas (you can see a boat with a tree growing out of it, the faery ring, some hanging cushions in this area!) and whatever else I wanted.

Next up: Beach Area! This part is just over the bridge from the Faery Area, and divided by some lower mountainy/grassy mounds.

This is looking at the beach/cove from the sea area. All SL land is either on the Mainland (maintained by the Lindens, who run SL) or on private islands/sims/homesteads, maintained by individuals/groups into realty in SL. My land is on a private island or sim. All four sides of the island (because it is a square) are on the ocean, and each plot of land has at least 1 side that opens out to the sea. Mine has two, since I'm on a corner lot, but I bracketed one end--the Faery Area from above--with mountains. 

And this is looking from the back of the beach area out toward the sea. That multi-colored orb near the top of that group of palm trees is a dance ball. People can click it to dance. There's a sittable hammock to the right (the red bit), a palm tree with a cushion on it that can be sat upon, the little palm island with various sits, and the fire pit to the left with sitting logs around it. And a very small sand castle with a few sits, too!

This view is looking from the Asian Area toward the Faery Area. We can see the pathway and the fire pit a little better here.

And this is the bridge connecting the Faery Area to the Beach Area and Waterfall Area. The bridge has several sitting/standing options, as well--including a few for reading! Yay, books!

The Beach Area fronts the Waterfall Area--just the pathway divides the two. And so, we'll look at that next!

The Waterfall Area is pretty simple--waterfalls! and grass! and some seating! The tree stump has sitting options, as do the lily pads, bubbles and the picnic table/blanket/pillows to the right of the picture...they're kind of small in this picture, but they're there. I love to play with grass and trees in SL. I have yet to attempt to make any, but I might end up doing that if I decide to sell things--I like to add greenery to all my spaces. 

This gives a better look at the blanket/picnic table I mentioned above--and it has almost all reading-based cuddles in it! Yay reading! And this view is from the Asian Area toward the Faery Area. The one above was from the Beach Area looking toward the back of my land.

I also really like to play with lighting in SL when taking pictures, so the Asian set has a couple of different lightings. I'm putting Sharon's Area in with this set, because her area is a pagoda I made for her a couple of years ago. She's the one who has decorated it, though.

Why, yes, those are an extra-large panda and rabbit. They're sittable. And faery lights! And floating lanterns! And bamboo!

And another view--looking from the Waterfall Area sort of toward Sharon's area--hi, pagoda! And the rabbit looks a little...evil?

And just because I like the foggy lighting and I thought it looked good with the bamboo: ta-da!

Sharon's pagoda! It's the first thing I ever built in SL. 

And the back of Sharon's area--from the sea side of my land. That white bubble in the right foreground is steam from her hot spring. And that's a large yellow sakura tree. Pretttttttty.

And finally: a couple of pictures of the whole shebang!

I had to cut off the top part, because it shows the neighbor's land...which didn't quite fit in.

And a from-the-sea view of the whole thing. I love it! So many different moods, all in one area. Yay!