Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

One of the places on my ‘bucket list’ was Arcosanti.   My brother and his wife came for a visit and we were able to tour Arcosanti.   In a previous post, I shared my visit to Cosanti in Phoenix.   The architect, Paoli Soleri developed an architectural concept for cities and both Arcosanti and Cosanti   were the beginning of his experiment.   Concept - Arcology When I was in college in the early 1970’s, I studied housing and interior design.   Soleri’s concept of a city without cars where people lived, worked and played near each other was the opposite of Frank Lloyd Wright’s concept where everyone had an acre of land and a car.   I was very excited and curious to see how the Soleri experiment was developing. Entrance Arcosanti is very slow growing city in an urban laboratory.   There are 60 to 100 people living together, working in a bronze foundry and a ceramic clay foundry.   The development is mostly financed through the sale of bronze and ceramic bells.   The process

Sea Anemone Underwater creatures just fascinate me.   Their colors and shapes and habitats capture my imagination.   No I don’t scuba dive or snorkel because …well to be honest I’ve always been scared of the water.   It took me two summers to pass the beginning Red Cross Swimming class.   I’ve learned to enjoy the sea life in glass bottom boats and aquariums.   I’ve also learned I can take really good pictures in those places. My photo of a sea anemone inspired me to make a polymer clay necklace.   Actually, I’ve been thinking for months about how to construct the necklace.   When ‘My Clay Fantasy’ (a FB group) had their recent ‘Underwater Creatures’ competition, it was just the push I needed.   I started with Skinner blends ranging white to fuchsia and ye llow to green.   Then I stacked layers including translucent clay to make striped canes.   Graduating the colors from yellow to green to fuchsia gave a fun 3-D effect.      A circle of paper formed into a shallow c

Fairy Dusters make me want to tell stories of nymphs and fairies, butterflies and hummingbirds, birthdays and parties.   These evergreen shrubs love sun and heat and are so easy to care for.   They bloom late winter to mid spring and sometimes longer.   The flowers are puff balls of pink or red that entice hummingbirds.   When the blooms fade and become seeds, many birds come to eat them and even open under ripe seeds.   Since it is my birthday, I get to weave a story of finding bushes in the desert in full bloom and just knowing that they were waiting for the night when millions of stars appear and invite all the desert folk including fairies and nymphs to celebrate my special day!   Can’t you just see that?

 Getting ready to leave Yesterday was a red letter birding day!   Peter and I went to Willow Lake, Prescott AZ to see if indeed over 100 American White Pelicans were visiting.   We could see a large white mass at the edge of the lake as we parked, took out our cameras, tripods, binoculars and the scope!   We were armed and ready! It’s a short rocky walk to the water’s edge and we were not the only humans looking.   We walked as close as we dared without alarming them and set up the equipment.   As the sun warmed the pelicans, they started swimming toward the center of the lake and eventually took flight.   It was mesmerizing to see them ride the thermals as they flew to their next destination.   1st section of panarama 2nd section of panarama 3rd section of panarama Swimming to the center of the lake Riding the thermals