Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

It seems that man has always wanted to express himself with drawings.   Early man often used stones to peck on rocks as well as paint to leave his messages.   He recorded ceremonies, hunts, dreams, maps, animals and daily life.   Just to clarify the terms: ‘pictograph’ is anything depicted on a stone surface – carved, pecked or painted. ‘Petroglyph’ is the technical word for anything carved or pecked.   I’ve always been fascinated by pictographs.  And I take photographs of the images whenever I am fortunate to find them. Hopi, Pueblo, Paiute Navajo and Anasazi have left drawings on rocks all over the Southwest.     It is great to live in this area of pictorial wealth!   I just came across William Michael Stokes and William Lee Stokes book “Messages on Stone – Selections of Native Western Rock Art “.   The images are divided into types – Apparel and Adornment, Birds, The Corn Maidens, Design, etc.   Great little book for kids and adults! It is pretty easy to find a real pictograph, matc

Photographs!   I have a computer full of photographs I’ve taken and I bet a lot you do too!   While I love to look at them and remember the events, emotions and friends, I want to do more with them.   Since I make jewelry, I’ve been experimenting with ideas.   That’s what I do- experiment with ideas and then turn them into wearable art – jewelry. So as I went through my photos one day, I saw that I had a lot of animals.   Especially animals from Africa (what a surprise since I only brought home hundreds of photos from Africa!) and I decided to make a silver bracelet with a cat family.   I had great photos of a cub, a lion and a lioness.   I experimented with photo sizes and charm sizes and eventually figured out I could use 3 charms on a bracelet and have room for tiny beads.   And then I realized that this bracelet had endless possibilities. It could have photos of birds for a birder.   It could be a friendship bracelet.   It might be a reminder of a trip.   Mothers and grandmothers m

Good friends called to say they were going to travel to Kenya and Tanzania.   They knew that Peter and I had gone a few years ago and wondered if we had any advice.   Of course we do!   I told them I would look through my journals and send things that might be interesting. What fun I had going through my journals!   We spent 10 days on a tour mostly in Tanzania with http://www.africa-adventure.com/ .   The best part was having our own guide, Firozdin Rafiq . We could stop and take photos and watch wildlife anywhere we wanted and he was extremely knowledgeable about birds to elephants and inbetween.  (He has a fb page).    I think I came home with over 700 really good photos not counting the ones I trashed.   We were interested in everything! Because we were going in a small plane between Kenya and Tanzania, we were allowed a total of 35 pounds each.   That included the camera, lenses, binoculars and clothes.     I came across the list of what I packed in a small suitcase and my backp