Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge Arizona has some of the most beautiful places that are pretty easy to get to.  We’ve found that taking side roads rather than interstates let us stop and really look at the plants, birds, and animals as well as the wonderful mountain ranges!  These pictures are from a recent trip to Southern Arizona.  I’m always amazed at the color, texture and detail in nature.  Enjoy! Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Broad-billed Hummingbird California Poppies Creasote in bloom Huachuca Mountains Mallow Palo Verde in bloom Prickly Poppies Roadrunner Thistle buds - the bloom is yellow

Guinea Hen The feathers on the backs of birds form patterns when birds fold their wings and sit, perch or walk.    Slate-coloured Boubou The male and females of the same species are different because the male birds are usually so much more colorful. (I've often thought that was unfair!)  Male Woodduck Female Woodduck I started paying attention to the bird’s back patterns in Australia when I took a picture of a bird on a tall stick and tried to identify it. (Of course, I can't find that picture for this blog post!) The bird’s back was toward me and the back is not a typical field mark.  Sometimes I’m so involved in looking at the feathers and patterns that I forget to look at the field marks for identification!  Great Argus  And color certainly helps form the pattern. Different sizes and locations of feathers on the bodies and the wings, the way the wings fold together, different colors and the different requirements for flight and cam

Organic seems to be the rage right now. I've always loved the forms of nature and  when I saw the pictures of  Eugena Topinas openwork forms, I knew I had to have her tutorial. https://www.etsy.com/listing/199228011/polymer-clay-tutorial-openwork-pendants?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=openwork+polymer+clay+tutorial&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery    I was not disappointed as I read “Polymer Clay Tutorial Openwork Pendants: Under a Microscope”.   The tutorial is detailed. clearly written with good illustrations but as with many things, one has to try it to really understand or believe it.  Using polymer clay and the supplies listed in the tutorial, I went to work following the directions.  openwork before dissolution Everything went well until the part where you have to put the form into water to dissolve the part that creates the open work.  I had pans of water all over the kitchen for days before I had dissolution!

What is it about the shifting shapes of sand dunes that absolutely fascinate me?  It’s the excitement of seeing the piles of sand at different heights and widths in the distance, knowing the closer I get the more massive the shapes will become, the more they will change and the more detail I will see.  It’s watching the way light reflects and changes the shadows.  It’s seeing animal tracks and determining if they are lizard, snake or insect.  It’s examining plants that can survive in that environment and finding artifacts whitened by the sun.  It’s feeling the breeze as I watch the sand move and ripple forming a new shape.  It’s walking barefoot and feeling the grains between my toes.  It’s learning and experimenting with the camera trying to capture the wonder. It’s knowing that I have to be smart and have water and know where I parked the vehicle because I know how easy it is to become lost in the sand with the hot sun be

One of my goals is to use my last container of Hadar’s Steel XT clay!  I want to start on some of the new clay and am determined to use patience as I deplete my stash of the older clay.  Here goes a new project! Usually I just thumb through my new book Art Forms in Nature book by Ernst Haeckel but for this project I wanted to get serious and really think about the underlying structure or skeleton forms in nature.  Focusing on a couple of pages that reminded me of what sea creatures might look like under their shells, I sketched some ideas, closed the book and started to create. Mixing Hadar’s clay is so easy – as long as I creep up on the amount of water and not get it too wet - and it has a reasonable working time.  After mixing the steel XT clay it went into the refrigerator as I made the molds for my creation. Several months ago, this muffin pan, a treasure from a thrift shop, was sawed in half to fit into my convection oven for polymer clay.  It worked great.