The Path of Least Resistance

Today will be my first class at Art & Soul Hampton.  It's being taught by Linda and Opie O'Brien (no relation to my friend Heather, who's attending A&S with me!) who I have long admired for their funky mixed media creations. 
You can see what their art is like here on the cover of one of their books:

or here, on their website: Burnt Offerings.

Here's how today's class is described on the A&S website:


"Got Tools! Well we all do - but sometimes we need a safe environment to begin using them and nurturing instructors to lend a helping hand. So come spend a day with us traveling down our favorite path… the path of least resistance and learn our easy techniques for creating meaningful jewelry using both hand and rotary tools. We’ll cover everything from riveting to wire wraps, aging and oxidizing metal, simple patinas and etching techniques, the dremel and its attachments, some of our favorite harbor freight tools, making your own findings, and even some simple torch techniques. There will be lots of demos and lots of working with each of you hands-on. So bring your questions, your desire to create, and even that half finished piece you started once upon a time… that now has you stumped. You’ll leave this workshop confident and on solid ground with a variety of pieces you made in class and a burning desire to create more. While this class is geared toward beginners, our cool techniques can be appreciated by all."

I've taken various classes in the past from wonderful teachers such as Kate McKinnon, Susan Lenart-Kazmer and Stephanie Lee, to name just a few, in which I would have already learned some of these techniques but I'm looking forward to learning how Linda and Opie do it. Their metal collages are especially appealing to me.