Linda & Opie's Burnt Offerings

Catching Up … Finally!

Sorry for the delayed post but we’ve been between deadline hell - a major studio purge - and an upcoming garage sale, so that we can finally move on to new things (YAY).

The Collage a’ Trois workshop at the VAC was enjoyed by everyone and we’ve been asked to repeat it in the fall, so if you who missed it, there will be one final opportunity! Here's some pics:

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And... The Travel Journal/Map and Sketchbook workshop at the Morgan Conservatory was fantastic. We’ve always been blessed with the greatest students ever - and this workshop was no exception (plus we really LOVE any reason for being at the Morgan -- great vibes). Here’s a few pics from the weekend:

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
we're missing a few books - but you get the idea.

Well that's it for this post as our garage sale is tomorrow and our studio purge will be ongoing for the next 2 weeks at least!!!

In over 17 years of mixed media, we’ve accumulated more stuff than even we can imagine – so clearing it all out is a herculean - but necessary task – but as the old saying goes: "life is change and change is growth" and we’re ready to move forward and astound ourselves with unexplored mediums that are calling out to us (and Opie is having a fit to get back into his recording studio). Plus we’d really like to add some Tutorials to our blog and share some of our knowledge and cool techniques with you, so bear with us for a few more weeks as we get it all together.

 BTW: we just signed up to participate in the 2012 Sketchbook Project. We’ve always wanted to, but never had the time. When the blog badges come out we’ll add one and hopefully we can link with those of you who are also participating. And we've picked a theme that's completely out of our comfort zone. More info will follow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Ohio Workshops -- A Few Spots Remain

May will be the last of our workshops for this year as we take a break to focus on new work. Only a few spots remain in each workshop and both are in the Cleveland area.

 

Collage a'Trois - May 14 - Valley Art Center - Chagrin Falls - 4 spots open 
Think collage on steroids and prepare yourself for a fun 1-day workshop that really packs a wallop!! Traditional canvas, paper, gel medium, and brushes will be replaced with a wood substrate, colorful tin cans, vintage imagery, hammer, nails and lots of imagination! Whether your tastes lean more towards the serious, whimsical, or the surreal, this unique workshop will forever re-define collage.

 

A Travel Map/Journal & Sketchbook - May 21-22 - the Morgan - Cleveland - 6 spots open 
In this 2-day workshop, students will create a very unique accordion style travel journal and sketchbook using a vintage map as the inside pages (approx. 10' x 7" when CLOSED). Together we'll create the covers and also incorporate a coil-bound sketchbook at the end and put it all together with a no-sew binding. Techniques abound both inside and out - and we'll also introduce you to Pogo Printing - a fantastic journaling tool.

 

See the side-bar for registration links and additional information. Join us if you can. 

The Opening at Valley Art was Fantastic and Full

and a good time was had by all.

                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was great to see our artist friends - several of whom it's been years. friendship is so precious - why do we let so much time go by??? we all vowed to never let that happen again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here's a piece from Cleveland area artist - gayle pritchard - this piece was both huge and awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here's our piece "Bliss" - and "Happy"from gail crum - whose work we've always admired since our first gallery show together back in 2001. the bottom piece is from jeff kallet - a talented artist that we've never met. his corrugated cardboard pieces were totally unique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

however - we finally did meet shirley ende saxe in person - although we've "known" each other for many years. all of her pieces were too cool for words but this particular piece was especially hard to photograph - although i really do love the double-exposure effect opie got when he took the shot with me off to the side. i freeze up if i know a camera is nearby - but this time i was blissfully unaware.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here's our last pic. we didn't have time to photograph everything since we were also there to talk about our upcoming metal collage workshop on saturday May 14th - 10am -5pm and show what our students have done in past collage a' trois workshops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so if you're intrigued and have the day open, please consider joining us. in a few weeks, we'll make a dedicated post about it - but registration has already opened and enrollment is limited - and - it's the only time we'll be teaching it this year. so call (440) 247-7507 to register. the cost is $95.00 and the material list is very minimal.

Piecing It All Together: The Art of Collage Gallery Show

Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, OH is havinga show on collage and is featuring our Collage A' Trois metal collage series.

 

We dropped off our work earlier today and was blown away by the eclectic mix of art and artists.

 

The opening reception will be held on Friday - April 1st, 6 - 8 PM

The show will be up Apr 2 - May 19 and we hope to see you there.

 

We've also been invited to teach a Collage A' Trois 1-day workshop on saturday May 14

Registration is open now - The Cost is $95.00 - Enrollment is limited - call (440) 247-7507 to register - 10 am - 4 pm - bring a sack lunch 

Valley Art Center is located at 155 Bell Street in Chagrin Falls, Oh 44022

We hope you can join us for both the show and our workshop which is one of our most popular ones and the only time we're offering it this year.

A Peek at Art and Soul Hampton

As always, art & soul was fantastic and creativity overflowed.

 a few students from our 4 classes. a good time was had by all...

 

we started off with tin-tastic: vignettes from the scrap heap - combining tin with found materials...

the theme was Wonderland and here's just a few samples of Alice meets the Dali Mamas...

 

all the books had several inside pages but time constraints and bad lighting was an issue.

Collage a Trois was incredible as always and we had 20 students in class, but in the interest of space, we put together a small collage featuring just some of the work...

 

our Sticks & Stacks & Domes class focused on torch-fired enamel jewelry and everyones work was a cut above. sadly we never got the chance to shoot any of the pieces but have asked our students to send us some scans for a future post.

If you've never attended an Art & Soul venue we hope you'll put it on your list of things to do.

now it time for the grill - so good eats to you all and have a great Memorial Day.

Students and their Dali Mamas

Lately, if it's not one thing - it's another! Opie recently had foot/toe surgery and is now on the mend. How one can NOT put pressure on a foot is just about impossible, so his healing will be a slow process.

With Art and Soul Hampton - just around the corner and since a few spots are still open in that workshop, we thought you'd enjoy seeing a few of the Dali Mamas that were created in our last workshop. There were about 14 more, but for some reason our camera was very problematic in class.

 

There were also lots of inside pages in assorted sizes and some were a real hoot, but again, we had camera issues and are just happy that we had these images to share with you.

technology!#??#?#!!

oh... and here's some cool student Collage a' Trois from the same retreat.

As I type this, we're getting ready for Art and Soul - Hampton - at the end of May.  

If you've never been there before, then check out the link. It's a fantastic Art Retreat that's hosted by the gracious Glenny Moir.

We're teaching 4 classes in all. The 2 mentioned above plus a brand new class from our Tin-Tastic series called: Tin-Tastic 3 - Vignettes from the Scrap Heap --- as well as a torch fired enamel class called: Sticks & Stacks & Domes. To see the class samples, visit http://artandsoulretreat.com and click on Virginia 2010.

Hope to see you there.  

  

Art and Soul Portland

what a fantastic venue this was. portland is a great city. very artsy and very "green". we fell in love with it!

our classes were a huge success and here's a few examples of student's work.

from collage a' trois (our metal collage class)

from simple metal jewelry: bent beaded and balled

and simple metal jewelry: sawn tabbed and snagged (where the jewelers saw rocked)

our students used a torch to heat things up

but glenny brought our bartender Clifford into class with his accordion. he played a song as opie and glenny did a dance (wish I had that picture) then opie heated things up (sans torch) with his rendition of "Lady of Spain". it was wild! 

 

in the city we actually discovered the horse of a different color

and everyone was ready to lend a helping hand

a visit to Powells book store was nirvana and the icing on the cake!

we can't wait to go back again next year. hope you can join us.
 

 
 
  
 

Have you seen July/Aug Cloth Paper Scissors yet...

well if you haven't, and if you're interested in our Collage a' Trois metal collages, then check it out!

we have an article and several of them are featured.

Mixed Vegetable Flakes is one of them:

there's more where this one came from, and metal collage is one of the new workshops that we're teaching at Art & Soul in Portland this fall. there's only a couple of spaces left and we hope you can join us.

and speaking of Art & Soul, we have some VERY exciting news to share with you in our next post... (we're sooooooo excited!!!)

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!

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.