Hello everyone and welcome to May's Monthly Muse! This month we are exploring the various landscapes found in this beautiful world of ours and how we react to them deep within our own souls. We are all diverse so it comes as no surprise to learn that each of us will react to different landscapes in different ways. A “landscape” can be defined as being a part of the Earth's surface, viewed at one time from one place. A natural landscape is made up of a collection of various landforms, such as mountains, plains, lakes, streams to name a few, with their own natural vegetation that is unique to those landforms. The word, commune, perfectly defines what happens when we still ourselves long enough to connect to the natural world around us - we enter into a state of communion. When we are in the presence of a landscape that is special to us, our inner space grows quiet as we observe light, color, shape, and shadow. There is an exchange that takes place between us and the land. You may notice your breathing slows and the noise that once filled your inner world is replaced with birdsong, the babbling of the nearby stream, or the wind through the trees. Your thoughts, once preoccupied with your own inner musings, turn outwards and now ponder the shape of clouds, the starkness of the mountains, the curl of the waves or how the light and shadow play on the landscape before you. Different landscapes will however appeal more strongly to each of us, more so than others and that is what makes us all so unique and important, and that is what we will explore this month. For our challenge this month I would like us all to look inside ourselves and discover what emotions or feelings come to mind when we look at various landscapes. Each week I will post a group of similar landscapes along with some quotes, keywords, a colour palette and an inspiration board. Use any of these tools to springboard your own thoughts. Each week think about: What makes this type of landscape special (or not) to you. What feelings does it invoke? Is there a favourite place of your own within this type of landscape? one where you like to go to when you can? Expresses what you love about this sort of landscape (or dislike) through your art. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Week 3 - Rivers | Lakes | Ponds (rivers, lakes (natural or manmade), brooks, streams, ponds) Key words: silent tranquil restful daydream deep still calm reflect Quotes: Still Waters Run Deep. - ( Pinterest) Like the river, keep on flowing. - Avijeet Das On the still calm waters of surrender, the reflections of clarity appear. - Bryant McGill A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. - Jim Watkins Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment in life. (Pinterest) He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. - Psalm 23:2-3 What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going and it doesn't want to go anywhere else. - Hal Boyle. Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. - A. A. Milne She is water. Powerful enough to drown you. Soft enough to cleanse you. Deep enough to save you. (Pinterest) We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see. - Taoist proverb. and all the while i thought i was drowning, i was actually the one holding my head under the water - MBC (Pinterest) Inspiration board created with images from Pinterest: Color palette: Use any of the keywords, color palette, quotes or images above as inspiration or use your own. About this month's challenge: This week we look at landscapes that are composed of bodies of still waters (or semi-still). Not the ocean, but those magical places beside a river or lake, where one can just sit and dream and be one with nature. You know those places, where you can hear the water lapping quietly against a grassy bank, or watch the sunset over its smooth surface. A place where you can watch dragonflies hover over the reeds growing by the water, or listen to the gentle gurgling of the water as it gently flows by slowly. A special place where you can 'just be' and reflect on the things that are important to you in your life. Do you have a special place like this? What makes it special? Do you go with someone or do you prefer to be on your own. What time of day do you like best when you are in this special place? Let's make some art that reflects how these types of landscape make us feel, deep inside. My layout: When we lived on the mainland, there was place, a man-made dam called Copeton Dam. It was about a 2 hour drive from our place and we loved it so much that we kept going back there over and over again. Sadly I can't go there anymore, having moved down to Tassie, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. It was a quiet and tranquil spot, and there was nothing better than to sit around a small fire on the water's edge and watch the sun go down. The colours of the sky were glorious and watching the ducks in the water quietly paddling around or hearing the various bird calls from the surrounding trees as they all settled down for the night. It was a time to just sit and watch and think, and when it got too dark to see the water, the reflection of the moon (if there was one) or the stars in the water was pretty special too. Credits are in the gallery. Challenge for Week 3 This week's challenge is to create a layout about a still water landscape and how it affects you, does it do anything for you? or not?. You can create any type of page ie. clean and simple, artsy, pocket style etc,. Your page can be all digital or hybrid. Wherever the inspiration takes you as long as you include TLP products on your page. Please post your layout to the Art Journaling Gallery HERE prior to Midnight EST May 31, 2023 and then post it in this thread by copying the code (at the right of your gallery image) from the box under "Share BB Code". We will draw a winner at the beginning of next month for a coupon!! Every layout you create is equal to one entry in the random draw. So if you create 1 layout you are entered once, if you create 4 layouts you are entered 4 times. You can use any products in the Lilypad store or retired products from current Lilypad designers, (just make sure you follow our gallery guidelines). As always I am looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!
Wonderful challenge Ona, they are really something to think about. When I saw this photo I was thinking on winter days here in Sweden when we walk in the crispy snow and looks at the water. I used qoutes, words and color palette.
wow ladies, some awesome layout additions! I am loving all of these still water photos and just wish I could go and visit them all!!!!
Thank you for the challenge. This is my absolutely favourite spot in all of Denmark. I always feel at peace there.
