art challenge

April Art Challenge: Earth Day

April 22, 2017 by Melodye Shore

I’m settled into my backyard glider, watching the hummingbirds sip nectar from native wildflowers and then zip across the sky.

Earth Day is tomorrow, I just remembered, and I’m hosting our Art Challenge on this blog.

But first, I will watch the sun slant through the palm trees, and listen to the sparrow’s lullaby. I am a child again, sitting in my Nana’s porch swing and blowing dandelion wishes into a rainbow-sherbet sky.

We’re so easily distracted, all of us. We lose sight of what’s important, ignore our inner longings. Hence, these monthly Art Challenges!

I like best that they invite me outdoors–playful spirit at the ready, all senses engaged.

Like tiny seedlings, our prompts are rooted in the things that matter most. Our environment, for instance, and the beautiful creatures with whom we co-exist.

We’re a diverse group, amateurs and pros who express ourselves in different ways. Using a monthly prompt as our muse, we come together in the name of “art.”

These challenges aren’t a competition, by any means. Participation is our goal, not perfection. It’s all about capturing a fleeting memory, exploring our passions, renewing our childlike sense of wonder, and yes! making a joyful noise.

It’s about storytelling, in words and pictures–being transported to another time and place, or finding our way home.

For this art challenge, we’re showcasing our beautiful home, in all its glory.

Let’s get this party started, shall we? Some artists will lag behind, but no worries: That’s what comes of being members of a global community. Take the tour when you’re able, and then return for another visit!

Gallery of Artists (with links to their Earth Day entries):

Veronica

Tammie

Eric

Nadine

Carole

Christy

Jan Johnsen’s “Spirit of Stone,” and an Art Challenge for Earth Day

April 12, 2017 by Melodye Shore

Wow, it’s been more than a year since we started our backyard makeover! We began by replacing our thirsty lawn with drought tolerant, earth-friendly plants—envisioning, as we did, a haven for birds, bees and butterflies, and a sanctuary for us.

Salvia spires, cape fuchsia, lavender and roses…they’re sprawling across decomposed granite walkways now, perfuming the air as they reach for the skies.

Heaven must surely be a garden, or so they say. And by they, I mean me. Most of the time. Songbirds perch on the feeder, singing their little hearts out. Visual harmony, however, is still very much a work in progress.

In this next phase, I’ll expand my color palette—maybe add some splashes of yellow. I want also to rein in the random groupings, clustering whimsical pieces and grounding the airy (read: unruly) salvia with rocks.

How to accomplish all that? I hadn’t a clue.

That’s where Jan Johnsen’s latest book, THE SPIRIT OF STONE, comes into play. Have you read it? If not, go grab yourself a copy!

In seven, beautifully illustrated chapters, Johnsen offers new and/or freshly interpreted ways to incorporate stones into your outdoor living spaces. Quick confession: I’ve never really understood the notion of hoisting huge boulders into your yard, willy-nilly, or scattering white gravel around your succulents. It doesn’t look…well, natural. But after reading this book, I’ve come to realize that a few, well-chosen rocks will add dimension–maybe also a bit of sparkle–to my flowerbeds.

Courtesy Jan Johnsen, Spirit of Stone

There are important design considerations, of course. Johnsen walks you through the options. Rock gardens, cairns, stairs, stacking stones, accent pieces and Zen sculptures… she details the possibilities, and then shows you how to bring your favorite ideas to fruition.

I appreciated that Johnsen braided practical advice and deeper knowledge, and that she explored the ‘spiritual’ significance of rocks. Some people attach meaning to their beautiful colors, shapes, and textures. We might also see them as talismans of strength and endurance. As metaphors, they speak to us in ways that flowers cannot. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, being within him the image of a cathedral.”

Courtesy Jan Johnsen, Spirit of Stone

The Spirit of Stone is at once practical and spiritual, and it’s as beautiful as any coffee table book you’ll find. I’m keeping my copy handy, as I reimagine my garden landscape this spring.

And…

Because it ties in so nicely…

The Art Challenge prompt for April is Earth Day, so apropos!

Let your imagination flow like water over rocks, inspired by this global celebration of Mother Nature (with an emphasis on conservation). The rules are simple: 1) Drop a note in the comments for this entry, to let me know you’re interested. 2) Sketch, paint, make photos, embroider, knit, write a musical score, record yourself dancing…. any creative interpretation is welcome! 3) Display your work on your own blog, over Earth Day weekend (April 21-23). 4) Link it here, in the “gallery of participants” I’ll provide in an updated post.

Art Challenge of the Month: Rituals and Routines

March 18, 2017 by Melodye Shore

Mindful

(a poem from Mary Oliver’s collection, Why I Wake Early)

Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

This is my contribution to the Art Challenge of the Month, Rituals and Routines. Want to join us? The rules are simple: “Draw, paint, photo shoot, embroider, install, write, muse …. any discipline is welcome. Over the weekend of March 18-19, come and announce here that you have posted.”

Art Challenge of the Week: Showing the LOVE

February 12, 2016 by Melodye Shore

Welcome, everybody, to this week’s art challenge. In honor of Valentine’s Day, our theme is–you guessed it–LOVE.

Meet Wendy and Peter, affectionately named for two of our most beloved storybook characters. They’re nesting in a fuchsia, alongside our front walkway. At 19 and 20 days old, they’re still too young to fly; but within a week, they’ll take to the skies on shimmery wings, as hummingbirds are wont to do. Love, ongoing and everlasting.

Vincent van Gogh once said, “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” That quotation goes to the heart of who I am: a child of God who views the world with a wide-eyed sense of wonderment. It also speaks to the joy that comes of taking field trips with my camera.

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Art Challenge of the week: LOVE

February 10, 2016 by Melodye Shore

Once upon a time, a consortium of artisans (poets, musicians, artists, and the like) tried to translate this complex emotion into words. But as someone wise once said, the language of love has many dialects.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, our Art Challenge theme o’ the week is (cue the harp music) LOVE. And lucky me, I get to host it.

Here, an opportunity to translate your own thoughts into images, using your favorite art form(s) and media. I enjoy photography, so I’ll be working with my camera. But Art Challenges are for all-comers. Painting, sewing, drawing, cooking…express your creativity any way you like, so long as you share your finished work in pictures.

Let your imagination run free! Picture yourself and your beloved, for instance, doing something that sparks your inner passions. (Hint: It doesn’t have to be romantic.)

LOVE isn’t all chocolate and roses, although it could be. It can be sweet as these hummingbird hatchlings, in a cottony-soft nest…

Or as absurd as this peacock, oblivious to its surroundings.

LOVE can be dangerous at times, and prickly.

Clingy or trusting? Reveal to us your vantage point, in literal or figurative ways.

There are countless approaches you might take, when it comes to this theme o’ the week. No rules; limitless boundaries. But may I offer you one suggestion? Leave no stone unturned in your quest for LOVE!

One last thing: Be sure to link your project to the blog entry I post this Friday.

Note: This Art Challenge is not a contest, and you most certainly don’t need to be a pro to participate. This is art for its own sake, no judgment or restrictions. So c’mon, share the love.

Art Challenge of the Week: Creating abundance

November 27, 2015 by Melodye Shore

“Abundance is not something we acquire,” Wayne Dyer once said, “It is something we tune into.” I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not about having, or doing, or aspirational thinking. The Secret (if there is one) is to be fully present in each moment, wholly appreciative of the gifts available to us in the here and now.

It’s the ability to see a hummingbird’s nest for the iridescent promises it holds…

And to greet unannounced guests as if they belonged, as if this were the plan all along.

Abundance reveals itself when you wade, unafraid, into frothy waters.

Sometimes it appears as if by magic–shimmery bouquets from a bubble wand, for instance.

It presents itself in expansive moments of peaceful awareness,

Expresses itself as joyful noise or a whispered “amen.”

Abundance is a splashy little thing,

With a graceful elegance.

It’s a timeless beauty, capable of endless transformations.

Abundance can be of our own making, of course–bread dough, for instance, set to rise in a warm kitchen.

Perfect in its imperfections, it fills us with a delicious sense of well-being.

Abundance is the secret gardens we tend…

Within each seed of awareness, an abundant harvest.

I snapped these photos over the course of this past year. They speak to grand adventures and simple delights, quiet beauty and occasions that shout, Behold! It’s a curated collection, brief glimpses of the whole story, but when I remember these wide-eyed, breathless moments, I’m filled anew with gratitude for the abundance they represent.

How apropos, that Thanksgiving week prompted the challenge word abundance. Want to see more? Visit Veronica Roth’s page and follow the links. My responses to previous challenge words are available here.

Art Challenge of the week: Tricksters

May 15, 2015 by Melodye Shore

The focus of this week’s art challenge is that mythical creator of mayhem, the Trickster.

In its broadest definition, a Trickster is an archetypal character who breaks all the rules. His antics are the stuff of legends, at once amusing and edifying. True, they’re mischievous. Given free rein, they can be troublemakers. But while they’re known for their shadow sides, they also offer levity and light.

Lizard suns itself at Shipley Nature Center (Huntington Beach, CA)

An animal’s survival oftentimes depends on the clever art of camouflage. This lizard wears his cloak of near-invisibility well, don’t you think?

Gingersnaps at Salt Creek Beach

According to Lewis Hyde, ” Trickster myths begin with a being whose main concern is getting fed… whose creativity and intelligence allows him to outwit other eaters.”

So much for my bag of gingersnaps!

Monarch Caterpillar, eating milkweed in my backyard

A Trickster is a shapeshifter. In the Navajo tradition, for instance, the lowly Caterpillar is considered sacred for its ability to transform into a winged Butterfly.

Monarch Butterfly, enjoying a royal feast in my backyard

And yet, regal as it seems, the butterfly can be flighty and vain. Tricksy. So the Caterpillar is considered the more trustworthy of the two.

Me, from the About page of my website (www.melodyeshore.com).

Creative beings that they are, tricksters like to shake things up a bit. They color outside the lines, giggle in church and (in subtle and/or outrageous ways), defy convention.

Me, reimagined by the app 小偶 – 我的3D萌偶 (Huanshi Ltd)

They are the visionaries and the pilgrims, the archeologists and the astronauts. Gifted with endless imaginations — and bottomless bags of tricks — it’s the Tricksters who invite us to look beyond the obvious, and who transport us to other worlds, as yet unexplored.

Linkfest! If you want to see other bloggers’ responses to this week’s challenge, click here, or visit my photographic response to last week’s challenge, stars.

Art Challenge: Stars at Laguna Beach

May 2, 2015 by Melodye Shore

The stars aligned for me yet again, in that this week’s Challenge Word enticed me away from my computer and into yet another outdoor adventure. I grabbed a picnic lunch, my camera, and a couple of books, and ~~sped down PCH~~ steered my roadster toward Laguna, which is where I photographed this constellation of stars.

There’s so much to love about Cynthia Lord’s upcoming release, A Handful of Stars. I’m reminded of my junior high school friend, Luz, the daughter of a migrant farm worker who takes a lead role in my contribution to the YA anthology, Dear Bully.

Bibliophiles, don’t you fret! There’s a waxed paper barrier between this sweet little book & the wet sand.

Lucky me, I’ve also got an advanced review copy of Jeannine Atkins’ newest novel, Little Woman in Blue! At a time when women assumed subservient roles on the whole, artist May Alcott steps out from behind her famous sister Louisa’s shadows and becomes the star of her own life. *applauds wildly*

Little Woman in Blue, sitting pretty on a lifeguard’s rescue watercraft

There’s a shortage of starfish in our local tide pools, so I brought one of my own, for the purpose of this challenge. Funny story: When I was snapping this picture, a cluster of Aussies gathered ’round, talking with animated gestures about what they’d assumed was a gift from the sea, washed ashore by these waves. We laughed about it afterwards, and they joked that they’d brought with them the whales that were breaching off shore before I got there.

No, he’s not a star. But when this seagull kept wandering into the frame, I decided to give him his moment in the sun.

This bright yellow bloom is a reflection of the sun itself, which everyone knows is a star.

Blue on blue, what a stellar day! I’d rate it five starfish out of five!

Linkfest! If you want to see other bloggers’ responses to this week’s challenge, click here.

My photographic response to last week’s challenge, coats, is here.

Coats of many colors, shapes and sizes

April 26, 2015 by Melodye Shore

One of my Facebook friends set forth a creative challenge: Interpret the word coats as you wish—with paints, colored pencils and pens, needlecrafts, photography, you name it. As luck would have it, Serendipity worked her magic again! We’d already bought tickets for the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound’s Twilight Tour, and I couldn’t imagine a better place for a fashion shoot. So many exquisitely designed and constructed coats, custom-tailored to Mother Nature’s most discerning customers!

By way of background, the EFBC is a breeding zoo and research facility in the high desert of Rosamond, California. As you can see from this set of photographs, the compound isn’t a money-making enterprise. It’s isolated and minimalistic. And yet, it’s occupied by more than 70 of the world’s most endangered and exotic felines. They rely on special events to help bring in money for research, construction of new facilities, and ongoing animal care.

Make no mistake about it, though: their cats are well-nourished and don’t suffer for any lack of attention.

White tiger, eagerly awaiting a volunteer’s treat

When they’re not napping or seeking refuge from the midday sun, you get much closer views than you would at most zoos–especially during their Twilight Tours, when visitors are granted all-access passes to the entire compound. Cats are more active at night anyway, but volunteers entice them into the open with treats enrichment items: crushed peppermint and lavender, to stimulate their sense of smell; phone books, which they rip to shreds in minutes; hard-boiled eggs, raw chicken strips and watermelon, all of which disappears in a flash.

Jaguar makes quick work of a watermelon

You can learn a lot by simply observing. Touching is verboten, but you can always read (a good source) and ask questions. We were among the last to leave, and I brought home a whole wardrobe of bespoke coats, photographed on the owners who wear them best.

A tiger’s stripes are like fingerprints—the pattern is individual to each cat.

A leopard’s low-slung, muscular form is covered with skin-deep, closely spaced rosettes that serve as contrast to its tawny coat.

Black leopards have spots, too, though you might not see them at first glance.

Jaguars have substantially larger heads and jaws than leopards do. They are beefy beasts! Notice the occasional dot in the middle of those rosettes? Those markings helps distinguish them from leopards—which, as you know, never change their spots.

White tigers are showy, but beneath that exotic exterior, they’re genetically similar to their orange-tinted brothers.

Snow leopards are shy. They have closely spaced rosettes over a pale, thick coat that keeps them warm and serves as camouflage in the snow.

Bobcats have facial ruffs and tufted ears. Their fur is multi-colored, sometimes with ticking, stripes and spots.

I could go on and on, so impressed was I with Mother Nature’s haute couture. But I’ll just leave you with a few extra coats, how’s that? Look closely at the markings, shapes, and colors…Can you identify the owners?