No Monster Monday

 Hi Everyone!

I know you will miss my monsters today. Ha ha ha

Because lupus/sjogren's won't let up, I'm going to take the week off from blogging. I will be here for Friday Face OFF. 

 

And don't forget the  

We will show our challenge portraits on Friday April 24th.

Create a face that is happy, sad, tired, surprised or angry. You have the choice to create one or more or all of the expressions.

This is optional, you don't have to be in the challenge. So any face will do.

I'm off rest.

See ya Friday.

Nicole 

SITAR

 Hi Everyone!

Due to Easter and my health I will postpone SITAR until next week. 

Nicole
 

Saturday garden

 Hi Everyone!

Yesterday and today are really beautiful days. No wind, no rain, just sunny days. Still a bit chilly but I will take sunshine any day. 

With the help of Mr. M. I pulled a few herbs plants from my back yard to the front deck. As I have mentioned before I won't be able to garden this year but I do want my herbs to thrive. They made it through a cold winter. 

This is Lemon Thyme. I have already harvested some. 

This is Lemon Mint. Harvested some of this too. 

 

This Lavender plant is doing well 

 

Already blooming. 

 

This is garden Lupine. It is considered an herbaceous perennial plant but not culinary. I just think it's pretty. When it blooms I will show more photos.

This is another Lavender. Spiked Lavender or sometimes referred to as Portuguese lavender. 

I have other plants on the deck but they need some work to make them presentable. 

I just might sneak over to the nursery and get some vegetable plants to go into the big garden.  I don't have to lift, or bend, or do anything to hurt me. Mr. M. may not be too happy........ 

but I can sweet talk him. 😁

Are you growing a garden this year?

 

 Nicole

 

Friday Face OFF FFO

 

Welcome To Friday Face OFF (FFO)

This is the place to show off your face art.

You know, ANY type of face, nature, the face of a flower, photography, drawings, paintings, AI. There just needs to be a face in your blog post, a link back to my blog and please use the image below. 

Thank you.

After last weeks drawing a bird I have become entranced with drawing bird heads. So this week you get this one.

Starts like this. 

I used graphite for the beak. 

 

Getting color in 

Ended like this. I tried to get a better photo of the eye. It's very shinny and looks wet but my camera won't capture it.

I've not been very well these last 5 weeks and I'm just trying to use my time creating fun art. Not going for realistic. 

Some AI faces 

Now for some features.

 

Dixie Arranged Words

 

Jeanie The Marmelade Gypsy

A reminder that FFO 

Portrait Challenge is April 24.

Create an image with 

one or all of these expressions

Happy, Sad, Tired, Surprised and or Anger.

 

Also, join in with SITAR. Anything art.

That's it for me. 

Now show me your face

Nicole 
 

Sjogren's Awareness

 Hi Everyone!

I forgot that the month of April is sjogren's awareness month. Yes the same purple ribbon as lupus and for good reason.

Along with lupus I was diagnosed with sjogren's (show grens) about 4 years ago.

Approximately 30% of people with lupus also have sjogren's  as a secondary autoimmune. The primary signs of sjogren's are constant dry eyes, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing or speaking and extreme fatigue.   Sjögren's syndrome have an increased risk of developing cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin lymphoma

In both sjogren’s and lupus, there are high levels of antibodies (proteins produced by your immune system that are meant to attack germs) called SS-A and SS-B. Having high levels of these antibodies in your blood is a sign that your immune system isn’t working as it should.  Both diseases share similar immune system pathways. In both, the immune system becomes overactive and attacks the body’s own tissues and organs. These shared immune pathways help explain why lupus and sjogren’s disease can occur together, why symptoms may overlap across multiple organ systems, and why diagnosis can sometimes be challenging.

So with all of the things that lupus already attacks add sjogren's to make it doubly difficult.

Autoimmune diseases often do not occur in isolation. Many people with an autoimmune disease have more than one autoimmune disorder, a pattern sometimes called autoimmune clustering or polyautoimmunity.  

The last 5 weeks have been hell for me. My blood work shows both lupus and sjogren's off the chart in a bad way. One day I will feel better and the next it feels like a Mac truck has hit me. I still have to function no matter what. I have friends tell me, "You don't look sick."  I think I will have a T-shirt made up with.

I don't know where I'm going with this post. I'm very exhausted and my body hurts. I think I just want all of you to know that people with autoimmune are not weak, we don't want pity. We just want to be treated like everyone else.

Nicole  

 Hi Everyone!

I have always been fascinated by bees and have watched some very good documentaries about them.  I do believe this is one of the best. The Secrets of Bees.

I grabbed some trailers to show how great this 2 part series is. This is 1 minute

These next two are shorts 

The hive 

 

Bee being born 

 

I'm hoping at some point National Geographic will but the full series on their web sight as they a have done with other docus. For now the series is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, which I don't subscribe to. 

 Have a great day

Nicole 

The Secrets of Bees

 Hi Everyone!

I was able to watch, "The Secrets of Bees" on the History channel last night. It is truly and amazing 2 part series that everyone should see.

From what I can find it will stream on  Disney+ and Hulu on April 1, 2026. There are other places to stream but all are $3.99 to watch it. I do believe it is worth the price.

Nicole 
 

Monster Monday

 Welcome to 

It was a quiet weekend, except for the no Kings protest. Sunday, both Mr. M. and I created art and watch Jeremy Wade, (the fishing guy). I like it when I don't have any obligations to take care of. 

Here are my monsters this week.

 

 

 

Now for those who like the pretties. 

 

 

That's it for me. Wishing all of you a happy Monday and a great week 

 Nicole

SITAR

 

Welcome to 

 

I think I have blogger problem fixed. Please try to link up and comment.

Sorry for the inconvenience.  

 

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration. 

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

 

Lately, I feel like I'm having trouble drawing eyes. I will sketch a face in and realize the eyes are way off on the side of the head. Here is an example. I got so frustrated with this that I just crumpled it up and threw it away. I retrieved it from the garbage. That's why it's all wrinkled.

I had erased the one eye so many times that the paper was shredding. You can see how far apart the eyes are.

It was the same with this piece. That I salvaged it by adding an eye patch. 

Most of the time when I sketch out a face, I just do it. I rarely put in guide lines.

However, my Nan told me to do the 1/3 method. That the outside of the nose should line up with the tear ducts of the eyes, and ends of the mouth should line up with the middle of the eyes.  Easy right? 

In fact I don't even think about it I just eyeball it and put in the features.

However, for some reason I see the eyes too far apart. I have had to start measuring eye placement. 

Not of the whole face just the eyes.
There should be one eye length between the eyes. I'm not putting in all of these line to draw a face. My dyslexia would go nuts.

 I think I have shared guidelines for a face in an older post, but it doesn't hurt to  review the lesson again.  Maybe this will help some one with portraits.

There are so many ways to measure features and some of them are pretty extensive. I'm just not into that. I need and want easy.

Lately, I get everything sketched in then I actually take a ruler and put light marks on where the eyes go. 

Here are more examples of proportions of the face. This one just doesn't make sense to me but it may to someone else.

Also, I'm not putting in numbers either.

Drawing for me has to be fun and instinctual. I don't want to follow some mathematical equation to draw a face. 

 

 

Give me the general measurements and let me go for it.

My question to all of you is, how do you start your portraits?

 

  A reminder, FFO Portrait challenge is 

April 24th. There is still plenty of time to create one, two or all of these expressions.

Happy, Sad, Tired, Surprised, Anger.

 

That's it for now. I look forward to seeing you in Sunday in the Art Room.

Nicole 

No Kings Protest

 Hi Everyone!

Today Oregon along with the rest of the US and many other countries came together for No Kings Protest. 

 My friend and I walked a bit as protesters in my little town. I couldn't stay too long, (ya know lupus) but everyone was there for the same reason.

 

 

 

This is Eugene, OR. in front of the Federal building 

 

This is Portland, OR.

 

Salem the state capital

 Every county in Oregon participated. From the large cities to the smallest of towns. We showed up.

Nicole