Tuesday Flowers

 Hi Everyone!

Today the sun was shinning so I thought I would check out the soil in my big garden. Yep, it is rich and so ready for planting. I'm not going to take the chance of hurting myself so I will let the soil sit this year. Feed it and have it ready for, maybe, next year. In the mean time I walked across the street to my good friend Elke's house and took some photos of her flower garden. She was out weeding. We had a nice visit too.

 

 

It's spring here and it's showing.

Nicole 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monster Monday with some pretties

 Welcome to

I'm getting back my full strength and self. when this happens I have an excess of energy. I can feel it coming on and it is AWESOME!

Now for the 

monsters I have created with NightCafe. 

I love these guys! This is the original AI that I created.

Then I ran the image through creative upscale. This gives more detail. Too cool. 

Here is another

creative upscale 

These were created with stable diffusion  

 

Stable diffusion is a powerful AI text to image model that converts text prompt into photorealistic or artistic images then denoising the latent representation of the image.  I find the distortion quite  appealing for my warped brain. LOL

However, for those of you who have normal brains here are some pretties. Also, if I can create pretties I'm not too warped. 😀

From realistic to different styles of paintings. 

Finally the same prompt using stable diffusion.

That's it for me. Wishing all of you a happy Monday.
 Nicole

Sunday in the Art Room SITAR

 Welcome To

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.

 

sited:

The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art

SWANN Auction Gallery 

Wikipedia 

Oregon Humanities 

   

I wasn't sure what I was going to share for today, until I came across

Thelma Johnson Streat

My new favorite artist.

Thelma was born August 29, 1912.

 (Although some records read 1911.)  

In Yakima Wa. Her family moved to Boise, Id., then Pendleton, OR. before finally settling in Portland, OR. Where she graduated from Washington High School in 1932. She drew and painted since she was 7 years old and received community support for her talent.

One of her first major supporters was Portland civil rights advocate and cofounder of the Oregon Chapter of the NAACP Beatrice Morrow Cannady. It was Cannady who recommended Streat for what was to become her first major accomplishment as an artist, an honorable mention at the Harmon Foundation Exhibition. This wasn’t the last time Streat received encouragement and support from Cannady. Cannady also hosted an exhibit of Streat’s early works at one of her interracial teas at the Portland YWCA. 

Early support from those in the community, including the congregation at Portland’s Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, would be an early foundation and sign of Streat’s later success.

Rabbit Man, 1941 gouache on board, 6 5/8 in. × 4 7/8 in

 

1942-1944 Tempera and oil on paper mounting board

15 9/16 x 15 3/16 

Two African Kings  1935 Oil on paper

14x10.5" 

Girl With Flower year unknown

 Oil on board 20.5x 13.5"

signed 

 

Boy with Bird year  unkown

Oil on board 21x15"  

Signed 

 

1911-1959 The Negro In Professional Life (Mural study featureing Women in the Workplace.) Ink, crayon and watercolor on cardstock. 1945 10x20" signed and dated.

 

Her paintings have appeared in exhibits and museums across the country. You can still see collections of her art at the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Museum of Art, Portland, OR. and the National Museum of African American History of Culture WA. DC.

 

Along with art, Thelma was a dancer. 

Similar to her contemporary and acquaintance Katherine Dunham, ( Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. One of the most renowned modern dance artists of the 20th century, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance.")  Streat traveled to Haiti between 1946 and 1951 to study dance, which she saw as an important inspiration of social change and a catalyst for challenging societal norms.  She also visited Mexico and Canada. Streat debuted her new choreography, inspired by her travels, in a performance at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1946, which combined African, Haitian, Hawaiian, Native American, Portuguese and other indigenous dance forms.

I wish I had found this video sooner. 

 Streat realized that prejudice and bigotry are learned, usually during childhood. In order to combat the development of bigotry, throughout the 1940s and 50s, Streat performed dances, songs, and folk tales from many cultures to thousands of children across Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United States in an effort to introduce them to the beauty and value of all cultures.

 I hope you enjoyed meeting 

Thelma Johnson Streat.

Nicole  

Joining Gellena today with Happy Sunday 

Saturday Garden Taking down the garden

 Hi Everyone!

There won't be many Saturday Garden days. While I was sick in bed, Mr. M. started breaking down the garden. Today I was able to wash 5 gallon buckets to put away. It breaks my heart that, for now, my garden days are over.

Last  year this area was filled with string beans, cucumbers and herbs. Onions are drying on the side. I had so many cucumbers last years that I canned dozens of pints of dill, sweet and bread n butter pickles. Also 50 pints of relishes. 

Behind the beans and squash was sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots. 

Now, it's all gone. We will get the palettes up and either stored away or off to the dump. 

It's going to be difficult to purchase from the store squash, onions, peas, beans, and everything else I have grown for many years. 

This is the squash area. I had a bumper crop of many different kinds of squash last year. 

The beans were long and so good.

The cucumbers huge and very sweet.

All of this just doesn't taste the same from the grocery store.

However, my Italian Oregano will go on the deck 

 

As well as the Saliva 

 

and Peppermint. I removed all of the branches and in a week this Peppermint will be taking over the pot again.

 

Some of you may remember that we had an old outbuilding here. I called it the barn.  

 It had to be removed.

 

The space that remains we let go wild. Mr. M. has planted a few things from the garden and we have a lot of flower seeds all around. I will put up the sprinkler to see what happens this year. 

 

 I guess that's it for now.

Wishing all of you a very nice Saturday. 

Nicole