DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things

Wednesday

2026-09-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday was a long day for us. We had to drive into Coos Bay to do some grocery shopping. That part wasn't bad, it was the driving.

There are idiots on the roads these days. I don't remember such stupid moves while driving a car before.

Anyway we made it. LOL

A few weeks ago my daughter told me about Mock Ritz cracker apple pie. I told her I remember my Nan (her great grandma) telling me about that during the great depression days.

I'm telling you it looks amazing.
Photo from internet.

However, after reading about it there is just way too much sugar for us.

In fact if you don't know about this, sugar is mixed with cream of tartar to make an inverted sugar syrup. Even though I would like to try this recipe then take to my monthly gathering. I would not make it for us.

As I thought about sugar and the depression I wondered why woman would use sugar. At the time, a 5lb bag of sugar was .30 cents. That was a lot for then. During the depression the retail price of fresh apples was between 3 to 5 cents or 25 cents for an 8lb bag. On city street corners the famous unemployed apple sellers sold one apple for 5 cents.

While a few cents sounds incredibly cheap today, apples were a poor financial choice for a home cook baking a pie for three primary reasons:

1. Volume and Waste

A standard 9-inch fruit pie requires about 2 to 3 pounds of fresh apples. At grocery store rates, buying enough apples just for the filling would cost roughly 10 to 15 cents. Furthermore, because cold storage supply chains were heavily disrupted in the 1930s, store-bought apples were frequently bruised or half-rotten, meaning a homemaker had to cut away significant waste, driving the actual cost per usable pound even higher.

2. The Total Pie Math

To make a real apple pie, you had to buy the apples plus the sugar and flour. To make a Mock Apple Pie, you entirely skipped the expensive fruit. You used a single sleeve of Ritz crackers out of a 19-cent box (about 6 cents worth) and roughly 6 cents worth of sugar. The mock version cut the filling cost nearly in half and relied entirely on stable, non-perishable pantry staples that wouldn't spoil on the counter.

3. Geographical Scarcity

If you lived in rural orchards or Washington State, fresh apples were virtually worthless because farmers couldn't afford the freight costs to ship them. However, if you lived in a major city like New York or Chicago, the cost of transporting that heavy, perishable fruit made store prices skyrocket relative to people's nonexistent wages. Crackers and sugar, by contrast, were lightweight, shelf-stable, and cheap to distribute anywhere in America. I know, Ritz didn't invent mock pies. 19th-Century Pioneer Women on the American frontier faced a severe shortage of fresh fruit. In the mid-to-late 1800s, homemakers invented "mock apple pie" using stale bread, soda crackers, or saltines mixed with warm water, sugar, and lemon juice to mimic the texture and tartness of apples.

Now before anyone mentions sugar rationing, it was NOT rationed during the great depression. It was a decade later. May 1942 during WW2. A whole different history lesson. LOL

Since I was vested in the cracker thing, I did make Saltine cracker toffee. I made a very small batch just to see how it turned out. Can I say, OMG GOOD!

I thought I had photos but they are not on my camera. Mine looked just like this photo from the internet.

I did find this photo of mine. The bottom of the cracker toffee. I seriously thought the hot toffee would make the crackers soggy. Not at all. The sweet/salty crunch of this is pure culinary bliss

Hmmm...why not try some other cracker recipes since this turned out so good.

This next one SUCKS!

I wanted something that was no bake.

OK, lay Ritz crackers flat on a baking dish. Heat up some peanut butter so it runs smooth and pour over the crackers. Spread with a spatula. Lay another layer of crackers and then cover with more peanut butter. Now take a can of condensed milk and 2 cups of chocolate chips. Heat in a pan stirring until smooth. The pour over the crackers and peanut butter in the baking dish. This mixture is very thick. The directions say to leave it out and let it set up. Ohhh nooo. I ended up putting it in the freezer.

It never did set up just leaving it out. The crackers fell apart all over the place and the peanut butter without any kind of sugar or flavoring was terrible. However, the worst part was the chocolate. Yuckkkk, mixing it with the condensed milk gave it a terrible taste and texture.

I DO NOT recommend this!

Oh, here is the toffee recipe.

I would write it out for you but I am exhausted and need to go to bed.

Try adding any kind of nuts

Or some salt flakes to enhance that sweet/salt flavor.

You can also decorate for any holiday.

Hey, why not try it with white chocolate?

OK, I'm done with this. I'm off to bed.

If you try this please let me know what you think.

Have a great day today.

Nicole

T Stands for flying

2026-09-14T16:35:07.441-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

If you can't see these, check your pop up blocker. Or click anywhere on the square (Tom says his is black) and it should take the video to a new tab.

Today I felt like flying.

And my drink for today is

Have a nice day today

Nicole

Monster Monday

2026-09-14T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

I'm having trouble getting a post written. This is my third try.

Wish blogger would get it together. LOL

These are not my monsters but I like them.

We had 2 beautiful summery days and then the rain came. I am so hoping to get a few more nice days before fall. Here on the cost we don't have much changing of the leaves at all. I have to go inland for that and it's still not that dramatic. Not like these places.

Where you live do you have a big change when fall comes?

Have a great Monday!
Nicole

Sunday in the Art Room SITAR

2026-09-13T01:30:00.000-07:00

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.

I had a different post started for SITAR. However, as I got into the artist's life. I didn't like him very much.

Since it's late in the day, what you get is a few pieces of mine.

I hear people say,

"It's time to get ready for Halloween."

Of course I laugh because my house is ALWAYS Halloween ready.

Last year I was unable to create anything new but this year I am in full (scary art) force.

Here are a few items in my art room

and most of you will remember some of these pieces.

First I opened two totes that are filled with sculls, skeletons, and bones.

And this next box contains real bones.

Animal, not human. LOL Mr. M. will get it down for me.

This dragon I only got partially skinned and stained last year. I will try to finish it this year.

On the bottom shelf is another dragon. Above it is a gargoyle type creature but not a good photo.

This shelf is up high but here is a better photo of the G

This is "Bone-ita" Ya know, pretty in Spanish "Bonita" LOL Yes, my friends have names. 😁

Bone-ita is looking over these lovelies. I was going to sell these but I have some sort of attachment to them.

I made all of the teeth with a nylon material.

The eyes are glass

These hang by a window so the photos are not great.

It’s weird, it’s wild, and not for everyone. However, I wouldn't change my monster art for anything. The process of creating this art is alluring, spellbinding, and the finished pieces very satisfying.

I enjoy each piece I make but there are always favorites and for different reasons.

This one is because I sat down and made guts for him. He tells a story of being in the coffin. His name is Redgie. Yeah, poor Redgie lost his limbs in a war.

This piece truly is my all time fave. his name is, "Echo"

I don't think there is anything I don't like about him. I have had people wanting to buy him but I won't let him go.

I have many more monster art pieces in my house, including drawings, paintings, leather and clay sculptures. For now I think this is enough.

Are you getting ready for Halloween? Or are you like me and are always ready?

I will be joining Gillena

Have a great Sunday

Nicole

Friday Face OFF FFO

2026-09-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

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.

We have had a week of what is our summer weather. Mr. M. and I can't stay inside with warm sunshine. So I have not created any art.

I do have some fun faces.

Early this AM I headed to the store for a few items we needed. On the way home I stopped at the Dollar Tree. I have not been in there since they raised the prices. But, I wanted to see what they had for Halloween.

I was looking for a new cauldron and then couldn't help myself. The items are not as high quality as a few years ago but I will be making them dead so that's oK.
I found this runner too, with spiders and webs.

After putting the groceries away I headed back out to one of the 14 thrift stores in town. I was hunting dolls. I got there three for $10.00. The doll in the middle is on a stand. Can't wait to get started on these.

The Humane Society thrift store is around the corner and up the street from me. As I was coming home I wanted to stop there but as the rest of our town there is limited parking. Later in the day I had Mr. M. drive us over. I'm so glad I did.

I found this lovelies.

OH yeah, new witch shoes coming up.

They were $8.00, however it was orange tag sale 75% off I got them for 2 bucks.
Mr. M. found some great music for a $1.00 and we rocked out the rest of the afternoon.

I do have a drawing up on the easel and will try to work on it this week.

Here are some features

Gillena

Rostrose

Leeanna

That's it for now

Don't miss

Sunday in the Art Room.

I will be joining Gillena

Now it's time to show me your face.
Nicole

Good Day Tuesday

2026-09-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I write my posts the day before so even though this is Wednesday, I had the best Tuesday.

First we actually had a summer day. It was 71°F with no wind. That's a dream for here. Mr. M. and I took a very short drive north of town. We haven't been over that way for awhile, and I wanted to prove to you that I really do live on the beach.

We drove the long way about 3 miles. LOL

Once we turn west off of HWY 101

We come onto this road. Behind the mess of trees are homes.

Except for here. In winter this is a swamp. We have had no rain this summer so it's dried up.

Then around the corner where there is a small lot that is NOT a fee area.

I spoke with the couple sitting off to the side. They are from Utah and come here every year. In my mind I thought, "Why?" OK, I'm being snarky.

The tide was fully out.

We are known for our dunes large and small.

We came home, had a bite to eat and then went to the Florence, Farmer's Market. Now I don't normally attend this market. It doesn't start until 3pm and by that time I'm done in.

However, I had some coupons and wanted to use them up. There is never a place to park so Mr. M. dropped me off while he drove around.

I must say that going later in the year is much better. The vendors were amazing, the prices exceptional, and I'm happy with what I got.

However, somewhere a long the way I lost a beautiful zucchini. Don't have a clue how or where it dropped out of my bag. It's nowhere in the car.

Someone will find it and hopefully put it to good use. Besides I got these beauties from my own garden. They aren't very big but they are sweet and so good.

One last thing. I needed, (wanted) a smaller Comal cast iron pan. I found one on Amazon on sale and that arrived today.

It's perfect.

It's not the highest quality of cast iron, mid range but it will work for me.

That's my day in a nutshell.

Have a great day today.

Nicole

T Stands

2026-09-08T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

I enjoy cooking very much. Searching, changing, inventing recipes. Making them to fit our medical needs and life style. Let's take pork chops.

I make a pretty good chop but if you want the best chop ever do this.

Forget those thick chops with no bone or if you have them cut them long ways in half. If you want a juicy chop place the chops covered in cold water with salt, cover and put in fridg for NO LONGER than 2 hours. If you want a very tender chop, place in real milk cover and set in fridg for NO LONGER that 2 hours. Once the chops are ready for the pan dry them as much as you can. I mean DRY them. Make your pan screaming hot, add a small amount of oil, lard or ghee. Salt and pepper the chop and place in pan season side down. Season the top side. DO NOT TOUCH it for 4 minutes or until the chop lifts right off the pan. Flip it over and cook another 2 minutes or so. Once it is done let it set for 5 minutes covered with a dish towel. Not tin foil, not a paper towel, a clean dish towel. Any juices pour over the chops and serve.

One day I made "Dirty Cabbage" The homemade bread was baked in my air fryer.

This is so darn good that the next day Mr. M. had it in a taco. Come on almost everything taste good in a corn tortilla.

This next recipe is too good to pass up. It's cake in a cup made in the microwave.

I didn't think I had a mug big enough so I started it in a bowl. Mix together

1/4 c flour, 1/4 c sugar, (I used less sugar, I don't think it needs 1/4 cup)
2T cocoa powder, 1/8 t salt, 1/8 t backing soda. Mix to combine.

Add in 3T milk, 1T water, 2T oil and a splash of vanilla.

Mix it all up.

At this point I did have a mug and poured the mixture into it. Now place the mug into the microwave for 1 minute 45 seconds and you will have the best one serving chocolate cake ever. I pulled a bit of the top off to show you how nice and moist this is.

I have some other recipes but will save for another day.

My drink today is good ol' water.

Have a great Tuesday.

Monster Monday

2026-09-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

Before I get started I want to give some help for those who can't see the videos. The first thing to do is refresh the page. These videos are embedded from Pintrest, you do not need to be a Pintrest member to view them. After refreshing if you still can't see them check your ad blocker, or pop up restrictions. Especially with browsers like Safari. If you click anywhere on the video it will take you to pintrest so you can view it there. Hope this helps.

Now for monster videos.

The eyes have it.

Now for some eyes I created a long time ago. Some of you may remember.

Hope you enjoyed the eyes.

Have a nice Monday

Nicole

SITAR

2026-09-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

I have always found fashion to be an art form. But how did it start. Here is a video that shows just a bit of how things changed.

It wasn't until 1890 that modern fashion shifted the clothing industry. The rise of the sewing machine is what made this possible, changing from laborious handmade clothes to crafted luxury designs. Before that Mothers and daughters spent a massive portion of their daily lives sewing. Girls were taught precise stitching (like the back stitch and running stitch) from early childhood. To save time, home-sewn clothes used simple, geometric patterns (like rectangles and squares for shifts and shirts) that required less cutting and fitting. Because fabric was so expensive, clothes were constantly mended, patched, resized for younger children, and eventually turned into rags or quilts. People owned very few outfits.

To understand the impact of the 1850s transition: a skilled hand-sewer took about 14 hours to make a man's shirt by hand. With the early sewing machine, that time dropped to 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Now there are so many directions I can go with this post. From the early "slop" shops located near ports for sailors who didn't have anyone to sew for them, to the second hand trade. Or the sweat shops where women form different countries slaved to make clothes. However, I don't want to get into all of that. I just want to show how clothes have changed over the decades.

Here is another video.

I just thought these were fun to watch.

I will be joining Gillena

Nicole

Friday Face OFF 9/4/26

2026-09-04T01:30:00.000-07:00

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.

The faces I have today are NOT my art. Just way too much going on in my life right now.

Here are some fun oldies for you.

I have stairs in my house.

This is very true.

Me in the art room

Just fun

Last but not least.

Now for some features.

Violetta

Maria

Heidi

That's it for now

Don't miss

Sunday in the Art Room.

I will be joining Gillena

Now it's time to show me your face.
Nicole

The Blues

2026-09-03T09:09:07.355-07:00

HI Everyone!

I don't talk much about music. I do like all different genres. If I had to pick just one it would be the Blues.

I found this and had to share it.

Have a great day today.

Wednesday Post Voting

2026-09-02T07:31:20.523-07:00

Hi Everyone!

We all know that the "thing" in the white house has always wanted to stay in power no matter the cost, no matter the laws broken or the constitutional crises that WE ARE in.

A U.S. Postal Service official has accused the agency of defying court orders as it rushes to implement the Trump administration’s mail-in voting restrictions.

The allegations were made public Tuesday morning by way of a letter from Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal to Postmaster General David Steiner. Citing the insider’s testimony, Blumenthal said that the “risky and haphazard” implementation of the "thing's" March-dated executive order—which granted the postal service new gatekeeping responsibilities regarding mail-in ballots—could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in America’s voting procedures come November.

Uhh I do believe that's what he wants

The executive order was in legal limbo for months—up until last week, when the Supreme Court decided that the lawsuit challenging the order was premature since the administration had not yet implemented it. The Supreme Court was clear that it had not ruled on the legality of the "thing's" order, but nonetheless allowed it to move forward.

Yet how the postal service is planning to carry out the marching orders is already fraught with problems, according to the whistleblower report.

The snail-mail carrier has been building an entirely new federal ballot mail portal since June, months before the service was permitted to move forward with the executive order. The portal will screen all incoming ballots, but its development has been “rushed” and “risky” as the service tried to meet “impossible deadlines”.

For instance, the agency has eliminated testing procedures for the platform, a risk that could potentially “derail the midterm elections,” according to the whistleblower.

“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the official said.

Blumenthal told reporters by phone on Monday that “the main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One-third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the USPS puts all of their votes at risk.”

Voting by mail will invariably become more difficult for the tens of millions of Americans who depend on the service under the "thing's" new order. Even if a voter does everything right, their vote could still be rejected by the Postal Service’s new portal.

Part of the problem is the system’s zero percent failure rate, which processes ballots in large batches but rejects the lot if one fails to pass muster.

“For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal—because, for example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved—then USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well,” Blumenthal wrote. USPS would then expect the state to “take back the entire batch to cure the issue with the single ballot,” according to the whistleblower.

The whistleblower claimed that developing such a portal and the infrastructure to support it should take the service a year or more, but USPS leadership nonetheless demanded that the electronic processor be launched by September 1—less than six months after the executive order was signed, and just two months before the midterm election cycle.

24 states and the District of Columbia have filed law suits against this. The President of the United States does not have the constitutional authority to control, administer, or dictate voting procedures in individual states.

However, we are dealing with the "thing".

In addition The "thing's homeland security chief says ICE agents could be sent to polling places.

No matter how you vote make sure your information is up to date.

Contact your state voting website to get updated information.

Keeping the right to vote is everyone's fight.

Nicole

T stands for cooking

2026-09-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with my 3 neighbors. It's our monthly gathering. I knew when I got up I wasn't going to make it. Lupus pain an overall feeling like crap. I called to let them know that I would not be attending.

Everyone texted to see if I needed help.

I don't. I just want to be left alone with feeling like this.

Don't worry my friends, I'm OK it's just a day setback. Prednisone will take care of it. LOL

Friday we drove over to Bandon to the Farmer's market. It's late in the year and when we arrived there was only one vendor. However, it was the vendor I always shop with. This is what I got. The grow the best string beans.

The sweet onions are always so good with long scrapes that I chop up and freeze.

Can't leave without peppers and small heads of cabbage.

Some of what we ate this week.

Steamed veggies with egg noodles.

Doesn't seem like much but it is so good.

Yumm homemade burritos. I make these and freeze them. Plain rice and homemade refried beans.

Perfectly cooked battered pork chops, coleslaw with apples and string beans.

And sugar free chocolate pudding pie.

Sorry this is blurry

I got a coupon for a free 12 pack of bubly. Mr. M. likes the black cherry. With the sparkling waters I only like the plain.

Have a great day today.

Nicole.

Monster Monday

2026-08-31T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

It's all about moveable monsters today. Better known as morphing.

Now for some nice ones.

I will be meeting up with my friends for our monthly gathering.

Have a great Monday.

Sunday in the Art Room SITAR

2026-08-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

I'm happy to introduce to you,

Betye Irene Saar.

July 30, 1926 – July 26, 2026

Betye Saar was an American artist know for her work in the medium of assemblage. She was a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Betye was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, which engaged myths and stereotypes about race and femininity. Her work is considered highly political, as she challenged negative ideas about African Americans throughout her career. Bety is best know for her artwork that critiques anti-Black racism in the United States.

Betye Saar was born Betye Irene Brown on July 30, 1926, to Jefferson Maze Brown and Beatrice Lillian Parson in Los Angeles, California. Both parents attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where they met. Betye spent her early years in Los Angeles. After her father's death in 1931, Betye and her mother, brother, and sister moved in with her paternal grandmother, Irene Hannah Maze, in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles. The family then moved to Pasadena, California, to live with Saar's maternal great-aunt Hatte Parson Keys and her husband Robert E. Keys

She attended college and during that time met and married Richard Saar and gave birth to 3 daughters.

Betye started her adult life as a social worker, and then later pursued her passion for art. She began her graduate education in 1958, originally working towards a career in teaching design. However, a printmaking class she took as an elective changed the direction of her artistic interests. She described printmaking as her "segue from design into fine arts"

The late 1950s-1960s began her artistic career primarily focused on design and printmaking. She created colors etchings, intaglio prints and drawings that incorporated stamps and stencils. Her early themes leaned heavily towards family, cosmology and mysticism. Her early prints were filled with windows, moons, hands, stars, eyes, astrological signs, and shadowy figures. They suggested that visible reality was only one layer of experience.

Betye's collected racist imagery and continued throughout her career. She was inspired to create assemblages by a 1967 exhibition by found object sculptor, Joseph Cornell. She was also greatly influenced by Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, which she witnessed being built in her childhood. Betye said that she was "fascinated by the materials that Simon Rodia used, the broken dishes, sea shells, rusty tools, even corn cobs—all pressed into cement to create spires. To me, they were magical."

Assemblage Art

The Grand Dame of Assemblage art.

Printmaking had allowed her to build symbolic worlds on paper. Assemblage allowed her to place history itself inside a frame.

She began searching flea markets, swap meets, antique shops and secondhand stores. Her collections of everything from clocks, bottles, beads, fabric, washboards, dolls, photos, boxes, bones and household objects held the spirit of those no longer remembered. She understood that objects absorb meaning from the people and systems around them. Some carried intimacy, others carried violence. Among the objects found in American markets and kitchens were caricatures of Black poeple produced during slavery's long aftermath. Smiling mammies, grinning servants, exaggerated dolls, advertisements, postcards and household containers had been created to make racial hierarchy look comforting, humorous or harmless.

They were not harmless. They reduced Black men and women to obedient figures whose exaggerated smiles concealed the realities of forced labor, segregation, economic exploitation and humiliation.

By the late 1960's the Civil Rights Movement had exposed the violence required to maintain racial inequality. Black artists were demanding control over Black representation. The Black Arts Movement encouraged art that did not seek permission for white institutions before speaking directly to Black History, identity, anger and possibility. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, many artists including Betye became more politically aware. With 3 children she couldn't always march, and publicly demonstrate so she made art into her form of protest.

In 1972, the Rainbow Sign, a Black cultural center in Berkeley, invited artists to participate in an exhibition about Black heroes. Betye could have chosen any recognizable leader. Instead, she decided to create a Black heroine from an image designed to deny Black women dignity. She chose Aunt Jemima.

The reaction to Betye Saar’s 1972 artwork, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, was explosive and deeply transformative. By taking a demeaning, smiling Jim Crow caricature and arming her with a rifle and a grenade, Betye "touched a national nerve" and created a definitive icon for both the Black Power and feminist movements.

Betye Saar continued to create art until the day she passed.

Everything I have read about Betye, tells me she was a fearless woman, in a time of fear, and an artist that shows the world a different direction. She was also very eloquent.

Hope you learned something new today on SITAR

Nicole

I will be joining Gillena

Studio Museum in Harlem

Artsy.net

Roberts Projects

Saturday

2026-08-29T08:49:54.969-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I know it's the end of August and no where near Halloween for most of you. But for me, it's all year round. One of the things that I truly love is that more and more AI morph videos are out and some are pretty scary.

Really, recreational fear is a good thing. Like a good horror movie. It provides a safe way to experience a rush of adrenaline and emotional release is the safety of your home.

So here is your adrenaline release for the day. She is actually quite eloquent

Nicole

Friday Face OFF (FFO) 8/28/2026

2026-08-28T01:30:00.000-07:00

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.

YAY! I got a face drawn for this week.

She starts like this.

Then this. If you have noticed I'm more controlled on how I draw now. Before, I was all over the page.

Even though I do like being all over the page I'm beginning to see the benefit of started on the top and working down.

And to finish off she ends like this. Not my favorite, but she's OK.

Here are a few AI faces.

Now for some features

Lusca

Jeanie

That's it for now

Don't miss

Sunday in the Art Room.

I will be joining Gillena

Now it's time to show me your face.
Nicole

Short and sweet

2026-08-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Mr. M. has done so well with eating what he is suppose to, like lean meats, beans, and roasted veggies.

That I thought it was time for a treat.

One of our favorites

Thick crust. Crunchy on the outside soft bready on the inside.

The cheese was perfectly melted.

It was soooo goooood.

I have been wanting some high top rubber boots for EVER! They are expensive here like $79.00. However, I was in Bi-Mart and they were $29.00. Now that I can live with.

plus I love the polka dots.

That's it for now.

See ya for FFO

Nicole

T Stands for Tuesday

2026-08-25T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

You all know I love cookies. Actually, the cookie dough.

Not store bought rather homemade with good ingredients. Even though I have not made any lately here are few from my past.

Almond

Whipped Shortbread

Root beer Cookies

Chocolate chip

and my all time fave peanut butter.

These are just a few of the types of cookies I have made. So, why am I showing these?

Because to my dismay I read this article.

Scientists have successfully turned plastic bottles and agricultural waste into edible, protein-rich cookies

Whenever I read something like this I immediately think of

"Soylent Green."

Ya know, the 1973 movie that was based on the 1966 scify book,

"Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison?

Welllllll.... it seems that NASA has backed researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale to turn plastic waste into edible, 3D-printed cookies called µBites.

In the simplest terms, the team uses high heat, pressure, water, and oxygen to break down plastic bottles and plant waste. Specially programmed yeasts eat the broken carbon pieces and turn them into proteins, fats, and vitamins. The final mixture, "slurry or slime" is put through a 3D printer to form small, disc-shaped cookies.

The cookies have passed the smell test.

To make the cookies appealing, the team programmed specific yeast strains to generate vanilla flavoring directly from the plant biomass. Another engineered strain converts ethylene glycol into beta-carotene, which the human body turns into Vitamin A.

Uhhhh I'm going to get my Vit A from real carrots.

Once printed, the uBites are hardened in a microwave. This means they likely have a firm, dense, or slightly uniform structure rather than a light, crumbly texture of traditional oven baked cookies.

At this point the FDA has NOT approved human taste testing.

The cost.

Currently, production costs sit at roughly $60 per kilogram, meaning they are far from commercial supermarket shelves. It breaks down like this per cookie.

Small cookie, (15 grms) .90cents.

Medium cookie, (25 grms) $1.50.

Large cookie, (30 grms) $1.80.

This may not seem like a lot but the cookies you buy now at the store run pennies to produced. Yeah, a rip off.

To sum it up.

The research team

By using synthetic biology to turn inorganic trash into organic sustenance, the researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU) have created a proof-of-concept for a closed-loop food system. Lead researcher Dr. Lahiru Jayakody notes that with global food demand skyrocketing, we must urgently "reinvent the food production system to ensure food security."

My personal note.

We already have bio engineered foods in the stores. Governments start slow getting people used to what's available. Then, as this concept proceeds in creating other foods they will be introduce into the food chain.

When "real" food becomes a luxury fear driven government policies will easily cause the public to conform. Hunger makes the human spirit cross lines it once thought impassable.

I'm old so maybe I won't be around for this but my grand and great grand kids just might be.

I think I will go bake come cookies to have with my real milk.

Photo from internet.

Have a nice Tuesday

Nicole

Monster Monday

2026-08-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

We had a lazy one. Just doing what ever around the house. That's fine with me.

You know I love skulls, skeletons and well any kind of bones.

So here are the, my lovable, monsters for today.

I just think they are so cool.

Here are some nice images.

Wishing everyone a fabulous Monday
Nicole

SITAR

2026-08-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

Introducing Janet Sobel.

Check her shoes. Janet painted while wearing her high heels, stockings and skirts Her choice of attire was not a performance, but a reflection of her identity as a 1940s Brooklyn housewife who integrated her art into her daily domestic life.

Though I only recently discovered this artist's fascinating and tragic story, I was surprised to find just two photographs of her. I asked AI why, and it gave me this response.

"Misogyny and patriarchal snobbery were central reasons why so few photos of Janet Sobel exist and why she was erased from mainstream art history. While rare archival images do show her painting on her stomach on her apartment floor, the systemic gender bias of the 1940s Mid-Century art world prevented her from being documented like her male peers."

It is also highly documented that Jackson Pollock "stole" her invention of drip art. Janet created the all-over drip paintings years before Pollock popularized the style. Pollock himself admitted Janet had an impact on him. Stole is a controversy word, however, being a man he got the credit for it.

Sobel created Milky Way (1945) two years before Pollock began experimenting with drip painting (Credit: Scala/MoMa)

But, I'm ahead of the story.

In 1938, a 45-year-old Ukrainian-born grandmother, with no previous artistic training, began fiddling around with her son's painting supplies and changed the course of cultural history. Born Jennie Lechovsky in a Jewish town in eastern Ukraine in 1893, Sobel escaped the violence of anti-Semitic pogroms (in which her father had been killed), and arrived in New York with her mother and three siblings in 1908, when she was 15. Because of her family's financial survival needs, Janet had very little formal education. Her childhood effectively ended at age 16 when she married Max Sobel, a fellow Ukrainian born Jewish immigrant and goldsmith, immediately transitioning into a lifetime of domestic motherhood. She never learned to read or write English. She was married to Max for 58 years.

Much of the next three decades would be devoted to the rearing of their five children.

There are several different stories about how Janet started making art. Whatever the truth, her son Sol and an art student handed her painting supplies and told her to make art. It was the late 1930's that Janet began to experiment with making art.

"Heavenly Sympathy," an abstract piece Sobel painted circa 1947, featuring near endless swirls of figures and faces, overlaid one over the other in swarming layers of paint.

Edward C. Robison III/Courtesy The Menil Collection

Sobel created pioneering drip works like Milky Way in 1945, while Pollock did not begin his signature drip paintings until 1947. Pollock and influential art critic Clement Greenberg saw Sobel’s work at a 1945/1946 exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery. Greenberg later acknowledged that both he and Pollock saw and admired those paintings. Greenberg famously dismissed Sobel as an untrained "primitive" or "housewife" painter. Even calling her art "housewife trash."

In addition the media and critics labeled her "primitive" and "untrained," refusing to grant her the intellectual status given to men. Greenberg and other historians actively scrubbed Sobel from the "all-over" art lineage to protect Pollock's prestige.

(Personal note; I have never liked Pollock's art, and the more I learn about him the less I like the man.)

What notoriety Janet did have was ended 1947, at the peak of her success, when her husband moved the family to Plainfield, New Jersey for his business. Janet couldn't drive effectively cutting her off from New York. In addition her primary champion, Peggy Guggenheim, closed her gallery and moved to Europe, leaving Sobel without institutional backing. Art historians widely view the mid-century modern art world as deeply biased against women, framing the erasure of artists like Janet Sobel and Lee Krasner not as accidental oversights, but as systemic exclusion.

Janet Sobel, Disappointment, c. 1943. Oil and sand on canvas, 26 x 30 inches. Private collection. Image courtesy the Menil Collection

Haber's Art Reviews

Patrons more about Janet.

These are just of few of Janet's pieces. Janet's art does not exist in public art databases. Historians and dealers estimate she completed more that 1,000 total works. While she was alive she profited very little with her art. Again, because she was targeted by the male mainstream there are no official records.

Today, however, her art makes dealers a very good prophet. Major auction houses like Phillips have successfully sold her premier paintings for up to $76,200 USD, and her works on paper for over $16,500 USD.

In the contemporary art market, her works generally trade between $300 and $16,000, with highly prized oils on canvas sometimes reaching up to $57,000.

Major institutional acquisitions by entities like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and recent exhibitions at the Menil Collection have driven up her estate's value. However, none of these modern windfalls benefited Sobel before her death in 1968.

In other words her art was ripped off at every level.

There is much more to know abut Janet Sobel. Just type in her name.

I hope you enjoyed SITAR.

Nicole

I'm joining Gillena for

Panorama Journal of the association of

historians of American art.

CNN

Friday Face OFF (FFO) 8/21/26

2026-08-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

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.

I feel very bad, that again this week, I don't have any art. I did start a piece but I will save it for next week.

So what faces do you get this week?

Old ones.

Here are two of some colored pencil faces.

I even did hair. LOL

I do like this one.

Here are a few AI pieces.

It's time for features.

Gillena

Peppylady (Dora)

Melbourne Street Photography
Roentare

That's it for now

Don't miss

Sunday in the Art Room.

I will be joining Gillena

Now it's time to show me your face.
Nicole

T stands for Tuesday.

2026-08-17T15:29:18.343-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm joining T-Day with

Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

Honestly, my life these last few weeks has been very boring.

So, I will show you some funnies today. A few drinks are involved.

This is me and Mr. M.

Me when I look in the mirror.

My monthly gathering with my friends.

And this would be me on the board walk in old town.

That's it for now.

Monster Monday

2026-08-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

I woke up yesterday to my left foot and ankle in so much pain I could barely make it down stairs. The only thing I can think is that lupus is attacking this foot. It's my surgery foot from a few years ago.

Since that surgery my foot has been pretty much ruined. Thank the gods I can still walk.

Me yesterday.

Today my foot feels better.

Now on with Monsters. I'm following the doll theme from SITAR.

and a few pretty dolls.

Off to ice my foot.

Have a great Monday.

Nicole

Sunday in the art room

2026-08-16T01:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

I love art dolls. Some of you may remember my spirit dolls.

Over my years I have made other types of dolls and always am impressed with dolls I see at shops or on line.

Artist Francine Haskins

Art Dolls by AKVARELA

Ankie: the dollmaker

The doll world is massive and the creations are never ending.

You know I had to show you some creepy dolls.

These are from Pintrest.

Did you know, The first recorded dolls date back more than 4,000 years ago to ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The oldest known examples are wooden "paddle dolls" found in ancient Egyptian tombs from around 2000 BC, made with clay or bead hair.

The oldest known complete dolls in history are Egyptian Paddle dolls, carved from wood and dating back to around 2000 BCE (the Middle Kingdom period). Found buried in ancient tombs, these flat, paddle-shaped figures feature bead or clay-thread hair and geometric body patterns.

Dolls exist in every human culture. They serve as sacred ritual objects, beloved toys, and powerful historical records that reveal how people lived and what they valued across time.

If you are interested in dolls just google it.

Nicole

I'm joining Gillena for