Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Finished piece It's been quite a while since I tried to sculpt anything but it's been in the back of my mind for a time.  After watching tutorials by Aniko Kolesnikova better known in the polymer world at 'Mandarin Duck', I just had to try sculpting a journal cover.  This is a link to one of her tutorials that you might like to see.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2QLifZkONI Of course I had to try lizards...specifically young Bearded Dragons!  I have 2 live ones and was able to check on details often.  I'm sure 'Willie' and 'Mario' wondered why I was so interested in their parts. This picture is of the flat sheet of shaded brown polymer and acts as the background for the sculpture.  It is important to make this the actual size you want for the cover.  It can be trimmed when you are done but it's difficult to make it bigger.  This one is 8" x 11".   Background It took some time and a failed lizard before I got th

One of the techniques I learned at Hadar's Tucson workshop used flat floral ribbon to make the shapes for clay.  The floral ribbon is flexible and can be cut with scissors.  Once it is bent into a shape, clay is cut and dried against the ribbon.  It is removed after the clay dries and one can proceed assembling the pieces.  At the class,we worked making jewelry but I wanted to experiment a little more and decided to make contemporary lizard for fun.  I used Goldie Roman Bronze clay as one of my goals this spring is to use all my various metal clays from several companies and then decide which I really like.  This turned out to be my largest piece I've made and just fit in a rectangular pan I had. Something I had to consider when I designed Turq.  His finished size is 3"x 5". My basic design with the floral ribbon Placing the dried clay pieces on a background Decisions:  do I want a bronze lizard that covers the skeleton or not? Nope!  I

Male Gambel's Quail Prescott’s parks are open on Wednesdays with no fees.   Today we took advantage of this and went to Watson Lake and Willow Lake.   It has rained a lot here and we were expecting normal to high water in the lakes but we found low water levels.   The bird populations were reduced also.   Willow Lake - low water - great reflection! If we had not stopped and really looked we would have missed lots of action.   I found myself thinking, “here I have my camera but not much picture material”.   That’s when I remembered to stand still and really look.   All at once two groups of Canada Geese flew from Watson Lake into Willow Lake while I was standing still.    Canada Geese Flying In The Mallards and the Grebes were swimming with their babes.    The Cormorants were sunning and drying their feathers. Mom Grebe and Babe We had our scope and found lots of Red-winged Blackbirds mixed with Yellow-headed Blackbirds.   Those Yellow-heads would make anyon

  Canyonlands is a wilderness of rock.   It is vast and sculptural and colorful.   It is fascinating to see the various rock formations, canyons, and mountains that make up the expanse of this National Park. There are three areas, Island in the Sky, The Maze, and the Needles.   The Maze and the Needles were a little too remote and needed a 4 wheel drive, lots of water and supplies.   We explored the Island in the Sky.   From the broad mesa, you can see views spread before you that stretch for a hundred miles in front of you and 1200 miles beneath you.   Views abound that take your breath away and are difficult to comprehend.     Rain is scarce but it is spring/summer and when we rounded a corner we had to stop and look.   There below the very tall rock formation were a lovely variety of wildflowers blooming.   What a sight! Yellow and purple wildflowers Quite the View! Lizards find rock shelves where they can bask or get into the shade to cool.  They really blen

Have you ever been to a Reptile Show?   If you Google ‘reptile shows’ with your hometown’s name, you might be surprised how many are near you.   I’ve now been to my third one.   And each time I’ve seen and learned so much about both nature and people.   The first one was in Tucson AZ and I had no idea what to expect...maybe snakes crawling and lizards leaping and weird people.   Once I actually took a deep breath, paid my admission and walked into the large hall, my fears got lost in my amazement of the variety of animals I saw.    The chameleons were multi-colored and safely caged in habitats of branches and greenery.   Chameleon The poisonous Dart Frogs were brightly colored and hopping around the trickling water in their humid terrariums.    (These have toxic skins for their own protection).   Snakes of many patterns and varieties were in containers and carefully monitored.    Young Green Tree Python  I fell in love with baby bearded dragons as they stacked on top of each o

Let me introduce you to Willie and Mario, our pet Bearded Dragons!   They are about 2 ½ years old and ‘supposedly’ came from the same family.   I say supposedly because they have different colors and patterns and are so different in temperament.   They were about 1 ½ inches long when we adopted them and are now about 20 inches long.   Bearded Dragons are originally from Australia and live in the arid, rocky, semi-desert regions and dry open woodlands of Australia .   We’ve built a similar aquarium environment with sand, rocks and a water dish.   I also made a long picture of the Australian desert and wrapped it around their aquariums so they would have something resembling "home" to look at!   Peter (my significant other who introduced me to lizards) is designing and building new homes for them.   I’ll post a picture when they are finished!       Mario in his desert aquarium  Willie and his black beard  Willie is usually a relaxed, ‘let come w

Noun  TEXTURE texture ( plural   textures ) The feel or shape of a surface or substance ; the smoothness , roughness , softness , etc. of something. The beans had a grainy, gritty texture in her mouth. ( art ) The quality given to a work of art by the composition and interaction of its parts. The piece of music had a mainly smooth texture . ( computer graphics ) An image applied to a polygon to create the appearance of a surface, Verb texture ( third-person singular simple present textures , present participle texturing , simple past and past participle textured ) to create or apply a texture Drag the trowel through the plaster to texture the wall. Texture gives us so much information.   It gives variety to shapes and it helps us distinguish between items.   It helps identify plants and animals and we can tell what kind of bird lost its feather by the size, color and texture.   It tells us about health.   Is the skin dry and flaky?   Is it soft and supple? W