Linda & Opie's Burnt Offerings

when life gives you lemons...

take that time to learn something new!   i've had salmonella for a month and it completely kicked my butt - but the down time allowed me time to experiment with my iPad 2 and it's become my latest passion.

 

i love using the different photography, drawing, sketching and watercolor apps and go back and forth between them until i'm happy with the results. i'm still learning the many different brushes and tools so i'm taking baby steps - but i'm a quick study when i'm motivated! this began as an abstract sketch which i added subtle watercolor to.

 

this photo (which i did not retouch or alter in any way) was taken with the iPad 2 camera which almost everyone except me says is crap, because of its low resolution. i personally love it and wouldn't change a thing and even entered it in our village photography contest.

 

this was also taken with the iPad 2 camera and then i had a blast experimenting with different apps, filters, layers, effects, etc. i can't wait until i actually understand exactly what i'm doing - but i will say that my new favorite app is Sketch Club and i LOVE being part of that creative community.

happily, my salmonella is gone as of aug 8th (YAY), but my passion for iPad-ography is here to stay and i will be posting lots more about it and the progress i'm making.

btw: i recently started a new series called: flowers re-imagined -- and it's all done on my iPad -- which i'll share with you in future posts.

your comments -critiques and posts are most welcome...

The Doppelganger Dada Studio

i'm one of those people who believes that we each have a doppelganger - a look-a-like or double - who looks exactly like us ... and now i believe that concept could even include places and spaces as well!

does this look familiar...

this photo is one of the many work tables in our studio where we create all of our Dada dolls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this is not - although it sure could be....

this is a work table from wayne leal, a very talented artist who emailed this to us about a week ago. wayne, originally from the UK (South London to be exact) now lives here in the states and we're obviously kindred spirits and part of the same global tribe.

so if there are more of you who can relate to this concept (and we know you're out there and you know who you are) - then please send us a jpeg scan of your work table in an email res - and let's expand our very artistic and creative Dada tribe.

and in the meantime, opie and i wish you all a very merry christmas and a creative new year! 

The Shaker Heights Arts & Music Festival

It was a glorious weekend here in Northeast Ohio and great weather for an art show.

    

one of the artists in our dada book was going to be there and we had never met in person

 

so this was the perfect opportunity even though we all live in Ohio AND within driving distance at that.

 

we knew it was her before we even approached her booth. her style is very distinctive and we work with similar materials.

this particular piece is almost as tall as she is.

and here's one of gail's pieces from our dada book. she's a perfect example of a book-doll and i totally fell in love in love with her. now she lives with us and is a "den-mother" of sorts to all of our mummy and burial dolls.

 

beautiful weather, the opportunity to meet a most talented and like-minded artist, plus a delicious chinese dinner, made it a most memorable june day.

                                                                                        

An Interview with Cloth Paper Scissors

if you've been following our blog lately you'll see we've become obsessed with Metal Collage.

we've posted a picture or two of finished pieces and added a metal collage gallery to our website.

here's our latest ... Ex-Lax - Never a Dull Movement 

check out the interview on the Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors blog at: http://www.quiltingartsblog.com  (yes, i'm still working on creating proper links!)

 

and look for more artwork/articles from us in upcoming issues of Cloth Paper Scissors this year.

happy sunday!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

How ironic that our very first Etsy listing became our 100th Etsy sale

The piece is a musical assemblage that plays Somewhere Beyond the Sea

The title is La Mer and is in the gallery section of our Metal Craft Discovery Workshop book

 

and how fitting that its new home is by the sea on the beautiful California coast.

Collage à Trois

Our Chewies are Gooey.............

is a new metal collage from our new Collage à Trois series and a really great example of Opie's unique humor.

these last two weeks have been heaven for us.

the new book is finished and we have some time before our mexico workshop in feb. and our upcoming 2009 workshop season.

so we've been in our studio and have picked up where we left off in our metal craft discovery book, with our Family Tree metal collage project...

and expanded... experimented... and thought we'd show you what we've been up to and where we're heading!

 In This House....................... is a series of smaller house shaped collages that i'm working on honoring women, house and home.

Opie and I both love working with tin and recycled materials and these collages are a fantastic way to incorporate many of our favorite materials. we're also doing much larger ones as well.

we've put some of them in our etsy shop... which we've finally updated... (yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus)

and added an ongoing metal collage gallery to our website. 

so come and take a peek at our current offerings and tell us what you think of them.

and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.  

                            

Is This Cool or What!

this is apparently my month for receiving the coolest cards ever!

the very talented artist Jill Shulse made this for me for my birthday and those of you who know me and my love of what i consider my "trinity of tools", can appreciate just how accurately she captured both me and my brooklyn, n.y. accent. opie and i met jill a few years back at the fantastic valley ridge art venue in muscoda, wisconsin, where we've taught every 1st weekend in june for the last 3 or 4 years. the surroundings are heaven on earth and the hosts, kathy and her husband bill, are the best of the best. the minute she walked into class i did a double take... she was my younger me. the resemblance was so uncanny that everyone there could not help but notice and as we got to know each other, our life similarities were even more so! the weirdest thing was that even though i'm adopted, i felt we were somehow related and we simply became "sisters" from that moment on. her talent is as amazing as she is and both nina and i encouraged her to contact somerset studio who recognized her diversified talents and have published her work in several of their publications... so here's here's to you jill - my mini me... now go start a blog!

Opie's Music Studio

has just undergone a major transformation from analog to digital and while i'm not completely sure of what that actually means, miraculously a biz-illion wires have thankfully disappeared and order has once again been restored to the balance of the universe (at least in our music studio). i was really trying to upload a flash photo album into the sidebar that i just created using myslide, but somehow it only appeared as a post which i had to delete since i couldn't figure out how to move it, so this will have to suffice for now. there is so much to learn about all this, i feel as if my head will explode, but i'll plod along in my own time using the inspirational sites of some of the most talented artists we know as a guide.

BTW: we're making a list of blogs we love and read, so check them out when you have time.