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.
I've been trying to get several art pieces done each week. A few of them are for the FFO Portrait Challenge so I can't show those.
I was so engrossed that I didn't take photos. This is about 1/2 way through.
A few months ago I saw the ophthalmologist who told me the Vitreous fluid was drying up and pulling on my retina. That this was a normal process for older people.
OMG! Just one more thing to look forward to in old age.
I was told that if there were any changes to call them. Well there is a clear, blurry, mass in the middle of my eye. The office told me to come right in. So.... off to Eugene we go. 2 hours to get there, and almost 3 hours at the eye doctor. Oh and 2 hours back home. The good news is that my retina is good no tears. However, a piece of Vitreous broke off and now sits in front of my eye. Nooo it won't dissolve it is there forever. Have I told you how much I love getting old. NOT!!!!
On the way in I did take a few photos.
This is the best one. The street my dr is on is very very very busy. So no stopping. There is a stair way that leads to a neighborhood and on the inside wall is a mural. I got the beginning of it. After this man there is a train scene. One day I will get it all.
Gas has gone up again. This is on the edge of Eugene and the price of gas in my town.
But right in town it's this much.
On the ride in we have to go threw a tunnel.
The tunnel always has troubles. Like the lights going out, leaking, and there are a lot of wrecks at both ends.
I have more photos but I'm really tired and need to get my eyes off the PC.
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.
I have so many subjects that I want to share on SITAR that I have made a list so I don't forget them. LOL
Has a question for anyone about watercolor. I'm not a watercolor person at all so for those of you who are please visit Andrea.
Being in bed for over a week, I have been watching some great art, and art lessons on YouTube. As we know every instructor has their own way of doing things that might not work for us. However, there is always something to learn. The more I learn the more I can find my own style.
Here is a few of the YouTubes.
This first one is beginner pastels. I actually learned a few tips from him.
If you visit real art galleries and museums you may find a few of the women who pioneered the way for all women in art. But, probably not. Those woman struggled to get their talent recognized and presented in the galleries that were virtually all men. Even today, the women of old are not given the notoriety they deserve.
This first woman,
Plautilla Nelli
(1524–1588)
Was a self taught artist and the first ever known female Renaissance painter of Florence. She became a nun at the age of 14, taking the name Suor Plautilla, at the Dominican convent of St Catherine of Siena. She is one of the few female artists mentioned in Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Her work is characterized by religious themes, with vivid portrayals of
emotion on her characters' faces. Nelli lacked any formal training and
her male figures are said to have “feminine characteristics”, as her
religious vocation prohibited study of the nude male.
Sofonisba Anguissola was an artist who came from a noble family in
Cremona (northern Italy). She is well known for the paintings she made
of herself and her family (she was the oldest of seven children). In
1559, she became a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Spain, Elisabeth de
Valois, and continued to produce works while at the court of King Philip
II until 1573. Interestingly, Sofonisba painted at least twelve
self-portraits at a time when this was not a particularly common subject
for artists (in the next century, Rembrandt would be the first artist to make the self-portrait a major part of his oeuvre).
Next is
Lavinia Fontana
(1552–1614)
She made great strides in the field of portraiture, which garnered
her fame within and beyond Italy. In fact, Fontana is regarded as the
first woman artist, working within the same sphere as her male
counterparts, outside a court or convent. At age 25, Fontana married a fellow painter from a noble family, who
acted as his wife’s assistant and managed their growing household (the
couple had 11 children, only three of whom outlived their mother). For
20 years beginning in the 1580s, Fontana was the portraitist of choice
among Bolognese noblewomen. She also painted likenesses of important
individuals connected with the University of Bologna. You can finish this at the National Museum of Women in the arts.
Artemisia is the most celebrated female
painter of the 17th century. She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice,
Naples and London, for the highest echelons of European society,
including the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Philip IV of Spain.
Artemisia
was born in Rome, the eldest of five children and only daughter of
Orazio Gentileschi, under whom she trained. Artemisia’s earliest signed
and dated painting, ‘Susanna and the Elders’ (Schloss Weißenstein
collection, Pommersfelden, Germany), is from 1610. A year later
Artemisia was raped by the painter Agostino Tassi, an acquaintance and
collaborator of her father’s. An infamous trial, meticulously recorded
in documents that survive, ensued in 1612. Tassi was found guilty and
banished from Rome, though his punishment was never enforced. Just going to court in that time is an accomplishment.
Following
the trial Artemisia married a little-known Florentine artist by the
name of Pierantonio di Vincenzo Stiattesi, and left Rome for Florence
shortly thereafter. There she had five children and established herself
as an independent artist, becoming an early woman member of the Academy
of the Arts of Drawing in 1616. Artemisia returned to Rome in 1620,
beset by creditors after running up debts, and she remained there for 10
years (except for a trip to Venice in 1628).
From
1630 she settled in Naples, where she ran a successful studio until her
death. She briefly visited London in 1639, perhaps to assist her ailing
father on the ceiling painting of the Queen’s House in Greenwich (now
at Marlborough House in London), but was back in Naples the following
year. The precise date of her death is not known but a recently
discovered document records her still living in Naples in August 1654.
I hope you enjoyed the history and will look up to read more in depth about these incredible women artist.
That's it for now. I look forward to seeing you in Sunday in the Art Room
I woke up this morning full of energy and raring to go. My thought was maybe this darn lupus flare is over. However, my cheeks are glowing with malar rash so I'm not quite out of the woods yet but I sure do feel better.
Believe me you would NEVER catch me in a dress. LOL I was on the phone most of the day yesterday with my daughter. It was her birthday. She is 54.
Thank you for all of the well wishes, prayers, and healing energy.
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.
I'm writing this post a little bit each day. As well as trying to create some art. If I just lay down and give into lupus then it will over take me. I refuse to allow that.
Thank you for all of the well wishes.
All of you know I'm a self taught artist, in every venue I've explored. Just want you to remember that. 😁
I started this portrait a few weeks ago. Her expression with biting her lower lip was inviting for me and a challenge. This is the photo I worked from.
I swear I took more step by step photos but they are not on my camera or on my PC. Must be lupus brain fog. LOL
Here is what I have.
Getting started.
and the finish. The eye patch needs an explanation. After I thought I was finished with the face I took a hard look and her left eye was huge and bulging out of her head. This is where you remember I'm a self taught artist. I thought, "Oh I can erase a certain part and fix it." Uhhh no! That didn't work for me. I liked the rest of the face and didn't want to start over. So, I gave her an eye patch. Not as attractive. but it works.
My main goal was to get the lips right and I do like her mouth.
I have to remind myself that art is a learning experience. That with every mistake I learn something new. That we are all on different levels in our art journey. This is just a stepping stone for me. Ya know getting the eyes right. LOL
I haven't been on NightCafe much but here are a few faces.
Ready for some features?
Gillena and her brother. I really love this photo.
Carola bARTz Take a exciting trip with this lovely lady.
Don't forget April 24, 2026 is the day to show off your FFO Challenge face (s)
Create a face that is one or all of these expressions.
Just when I start feeling a bit better my body decides to flare up again. Thank the gods I have a very competent P.C. now. She is taking really good care of me. I'm on some antibiotics and some stomach meds.
I can feel them working, hopefully they will do the trick.
Anyone with autoimmune knows that we have to be stronger than the disease.
I haven't been creating much on NightCafe with not feeling 100%. Plus there is a quest challenge and I've been creating for that.
Here are the not so monstery AI.
I have had several people say I should create the monster in the white house. I think the next few says it all.
The five time draft dodger has always wanted a war. Any war, anywhere, with anyone. He has now fulfilled his dream and it is my kids and your kids that will pay the price.
My granddaughter and 2 grandsons are in the military. As he sits in his golden castle knowing that his kid won't be called.
And then I finished with this.
I think subconsciously I drew tired and sad. LOL
