She takes more than an hour to create each of the paintings that hangs in her gallery in Second Life.

But Youna only makes about 1000 Linden dollars, or US$4 (S$6) for each piece she sells them.

Nothing compared to the thousands she takes home each month from her real world job in the advertising industry.

Yet, the virtual world artist spends a few hours in Second Life every night after work, because she is living out her dream. Ever since she started painting in the Second Life, she has seen some pieces of her art works enlarged six to seven times, and displayed in some of the most prominent places in there.

"It's my fantasy (for my works to be displayed). It's not like I can display my art at Times Square in real life," said Youna, who is also an artist in real life.

"Second Life is an avenue for me to do really small-scale projects, then see them magnified and blown up. It's very much a magnifying glass, a very accelerated microcosm of the world."

In a matter of only six months, Youna, who wants to remain anonymous, has gone from a Second Life nobody to an artist with her own gallery.

Nanyang Polytechnic student See Hui Ping is Weiss Mielziner in Second Life.

Located in a virtual town called Zion, the gallery - Edie Sawyer & the U Go Girls - is housed in a bungalow that straddles mid-century modern and resort architectural styles. She rents it for 700 Linden dollars a month.

It is sparsely furnished with chairs, sofas and a replica Philippe Stark AK47 lamp made by the artist and her housemate, also an artist.

The gallery has also become one of the stops in the Second Life art gallery tour.

Youna completes most of her pieces using Adobe's Photoshop software - usually collages consisting of digitally manipulated pictures and line drawings.

This weekend, the artist will open her first large-scale exhibition in the virtual world. She has even given up a fishing trip in real life to make sure she is in the virtual world for the exhibition.

"I used to be sceptical about whether my art could sell anywhere in Second Life. You see a lot of people making Star Wars posters and Starfighters for sale, it's a geek's market," said the 24-year-old.

"But I realised there's a larger bourgeoisie culture within Second Life. They're the people who have done very well and have a constant supply of Lindens that propel them beyond the tech culture, so they think about buying things like luxury items."

And what determines whether an item is considered valuable?

The number of "prims", Second Life's basic building blocks" that are used to make it.

That is why the artist has added frames, a glass panel, plus certification and serial numbers for each of her virtual paintings - to add value.

In Second Life, there are pieces of virtual art that have been sold for the virtual equivalent of some US$160.

And although Youna has not made any sale near that amount, profit, she stresses, is not her main purpose.

It is being a pioneer in a world where "designer skills are lacking" and computer skills aplenty, which drives the artist.

"Second Life is like Googling through other people's heads, every place is a figment of someone?s imagination," she said.

"It fascinates me as an artist to want to capture that energy. It's like going to another world, or sitting on the street of another country to paint a picture."