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...

We always have several projects going on at our house.  Peter is building a series of custom oak cages for our lizards.   He's been designing, measuring and building them carefully.  They will have lights and heaters and meet the requirements for each kind of lizard.    The backs of the cages have screen on the upper half for ventilation and the lower half is a smooth board.   He wants these habitats to be realistic like those found in nature.   Since lizards love to climb around on rocks,Peter used ‘FixAll’ to create the rock texture.     I used acrylic paints to finish the rock representation.   Painting the board to look like natures rocks Ready to assemble Assembled A series of 3 cages This morning we let Willie try it out.   A test run! We think he likes his new condo!  Willie, the bearded dragon, on his rocks 

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...

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...

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?...