egret

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

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.