In January 2021 I visited Valium SL – Marfa (read here). It was the lateast of quite some places created and/or owned by Vally Lavender (Valium Lavender) and sadly this sim is already gone again. With the opening of Valium SL – Marfa I became member of the Valium group and as a member I got an invitation to see the newest installation of Vally – Hermosa, built on a full moderate region. The membership has also the bonus that you can rez props for taking pictures if you like. I visited on Wednesday, April 14th, 2 days before it was opened to the public on Friday, April 16th.
With the invitation I got a notecard from Vally with some information about Hermosa:
Hermosa Tierra means ‘beautiful land’ in Spanish and is a fictional land on the West Texas border of Mexico and Texas (only separated by the Rio Grand River). It is loosely inspired by my impressions of the Big Bend National Park area, over 800,000 acres of desert, mountains, caverns, a vast and diverse range of flora, fauna and terrains. The area is also rich in Mexican and American, specifically Texan, cultures.
A journey to Hermosa will capture your imagination into the story of its land owners, Veleta and her husband Jorge, who were very much soul mates. They lived at the Hacienda La Veleta, spending many happy years together rearing their children, on their beautiful land. Veleta, an artist, spent many hours painting her visions of her lands…..while Jorge ran a successful ranching enterprise.
Hermosa – Bird’s eye view and orientation map
Then one day a terrible drought came and tragically destroyed everything they loved; the land, the canyons, the diverse landscapes, animals. Nothing would grow any longer and the animals starved. Their ranch workers fled but Veleta and Jorge stayed and endured the best they could. This drought lasted five long years and as the drought ended, Valeta and Jorge finally succumbed to illness brought on by the drought. They died peacefully together in their sleep, knowing their love of their land would continue on through their ancestors.
In later years, Veleta and Jorge’s great-great grand daughter returned to La Veleta and found it overgrown and abandoned. She revived the land, making a place for artists to come and work. Painters, sculptors, writers, poets and photographers all come to La Veleta and are able to create wonderful works in this beautiful place, known as Hermosa Tierra. Some artists report that at night they can hear Veleta and Jorge dancing and laughing in the courtyard. Perhaps you will also ….
Impressions of Hermosa (1) – views from the landing point
Art is all around at Hermosa Tierra in a small way. At the Hacienda La Veleta there will be rotating artists from the covers in Flickr group pool. Since that has not begun, there is a ‘Memories of Marfa’ exhibit for the start. At the large barn Vally will feature selected artists from her Empty Chair Gallery.
Right when you land you will feel the heat. I strongly recommend to switch on “Use shared environment” (in Firestorm top menu “World” -> “Environment”). And don’t forget to switch sound on.
The air is filled with dust, the sky looks orange and with the red rocks at least I began to sweat just by looking on the screen. The first view I got was the way ending at the Hacienda La Veleta, blue blooming flowers at each side. Looking around some pueblos built into and onto the red rocks caught my eyes (actually they are off sim). And I saw some cactuses and a horse.
Impressions of Hermosa (2) – Hacienda La Veleta
I first visited the Hacienda La Veleta. At the entrance is a statue from Mistero Hifeng. I remember that I saw an exhibtion of Mistero Hifeng at Vally’s Art Park (read here). As mentioned above there is a small exhibtion with pictures from Marfa by Seb Neox and Hilaire Beaumont inside of the building. Actually I saw only 3 pictures of Marfa – and a few more pictures from Hilaire Beaumont that have nothing to do with Marfa (I think). Both artist were new for me.
Impressions of Hermosa (3) – Art at Hacienda La Veleta / Memories of Marfa / James Dean Forever Young by Hilaire Beaumont (lower left)
After visiting the Hacienda I began to explore the rest of the sim and there’s quite a lot to discover. In particular you find motifs for pictures that you won’t get anywhere else easily. Quite close to the Hacienda you find a corral with some grazing horses and nearby the obligatory windmill – and a water tower (off sim).
I walked back to the the landing and crossed the river. A colourful painted wall caught my attention there. It is part of a small rest area with a campfire and some other art objects. I called it “Art campfire”.
Impressions of Hermosa (4) – the corral, the windmill, the art campfire
There is a second house at Hermosa, a residential house that is fully furnished. There is a café in the outside area. Very typical is the large patio of the house, a great place to retreat during the hot noon hours. If you walk further from there you get to a camp site and to the pueblos.
Impressions of Hermosa (5) – the residential house, the café, the campsite and the pueblos.
And there is one feature that you shouldn’t miss – the large canyon that you can easily see on the bird’s eye view. It feels huge when you walk inside of it and again it really felt being scorching hot. If you have fun riding a horse, there is also a horse rezzer. I rezzed a horse an enjoyed riding it and seeing Hermosa from another persepctive.
Vally also wrote a bit about herself and her motivation for Hermosa in the above mentioned notecard:
There is not much to tell about myself really. Almost all of my entire existence in SL, since 2006, has been about creating beautiful sims, some with, and some without, help from some of SL’s great builders. It has been, mostly, a personal journey I embarked upon to make my SL more enjoyable. If I can share the joy with others, then all the sweeter.
I loved coming up with unique ideas and seeing them come to fruition, and then, as we all do, I started thinking about the next new vision. That is the fun of SL. I think the Valium Sea sim and the Boulder sim have been my most enjoyable thus far. They were very special to me.
And finally, the upcoming Hermosa Tierra project, built this time entirely by me, will be my last for quite some time. Due to real life demands, I lack the stamina required to keep up with major projects as this. I think I deserve a much needed rest and the time to study and grow. Let’s relax on Hermosa for a good long while.
Remark: I visited Valium Sea (read here) and Boulder (read here) in 2020.
Impressions of Hermosa (6) – exploring the canyon / enjoying a ride
Thank you Vally (Valium Lavender) for the gift of sharing this beautiful sim publicly. I hope you can enjoy your sim inbetween your RL demands. I enjoyed my visit a lot, a great sim!
Landmark to Hermosa Tierra
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ValiumSL/82/211/21
Valium SL homepage
https://valiumsl.com/
Vally’s blog about Hermosa Tierra
https://valiumsl.com/?page_id=317
Vally Lavender’s personal flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vally-lavender/
ValiumSL Hermosa flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/valium/
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 