Lens Artists Photo Challenge #397 – Texture

Anne’s challenge is to show images where texture plays an integral part. She tells us “Texture helps my two-dimensional examples have a three-dimensional quality.”

For me, the beach is a place of many textures. In some places the sand is soft, and others the powerful wave action of the ocean crushes the shells creating a rough texture that’s not fun to walk on in bare feet.

Broken shells on the beach

Powerful ocean waves can also create these smooth rocks

Driftwood on the beach becomes weathered by the elements creating a rough texture on the wood. Barnacles can attach themselves to the driftwood creating a crusty texture. Running your had along these sharp barnacles could easily cause you to get a cut.

Driftwood

Barnacles on driftwood

Salt air, wind, rain and the heat from the sun can cause wooden structures like piers and docks and even homes to become cracked and dried out creating a rough texture. Watch out for splinters if you rub the wood with your fingers.

Weathered wood deck on Tybee Pier

I didn’t see this rabbit at the beach but I’ll finish with the soft texture of the fur of a cottontail rabbit.

Cottontail Rabbit

Last week your responses to Ann-Christine’s Illustrated Quotes challenge were fun and inspirational. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge..

Many thanks to Anne for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to her post Lens-Artists #397: Texture.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, May 16 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be your host for the challenge.

You can receive our weekly challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #396 – Pick a Favorite Quote and Illustrate it

This week Ann-Christine’s challenge is Pick a Favorite Quote and Illustrate it. We can choose one quote accompanied with a maximum of five pictures or a maximum of five quotes illustrated with one picture each. She asks us to “Make us ”feel”your quote(s) in pictures!”

My first quote is one of my favorite sayings. I have a plaque on my kitchen wall to remind me of it’s message every day. Seeing the sunrise is a beautiful gift to start a new day.

“Yesterday is History

Tomorrow a Mystery

Today is a Gift

That’s why we call it the Present”

— Anonymous

The next quote reminds me to live life to the fullest. One of my greatest adventures was flying in a small plane over mountains and glaciers in Alaska and seeing Mt. Denali from the air. I’m not a fan of flying in small planes!

“Life is either a great adventure or nothing” — Helen Keller

Almost twenty years ago volunteers on Tybee Island planted Oak Trees to help celebrate the 120th anniversary of Tybee Island. Today the trees are thriving and getting taller every year.

“What does he plant who plants a tree?
   He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
   And far-cast thought of civic good—
   His blessings on the neighborhood,
      Who in the hollow of His hand
      Holds all the growth of all our land—
A nation’s growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.”

— “The Heart of the Tree” by Henry Cuyler Bunner

The final two quotes and images need no explanation.

“If there is a heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached” — Jimmy Buffett

“Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat” — Laura Ingals Wilder

It was my pleasure to host last week’s challenge. Your responses took us all around the world with fantastic images On the Water. You wowed us with all types of water from puddles to mighty oceans, peaceful landscapes and thundering waterfalls. The variety of animals, people, and plants on the water were great. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge..

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this fun challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #396: Pick a Favorite Quotes and Illustrate It.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, May 9 at noon eastern time when Anne will be hosting the challenge.

You can receive our weekly challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Sunday Stills – National Garden Month

Terri’s latest Sunday Stills challenge is National Garden Month. For this challenge she asked us what is growing in our garden.

None of my flowers are blooming right now so I decided to flash back a few years to some beautiful roses I found at the the Savannah Botanical Gardens and the Minnesota Arboretum Garden.

Many thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills challenge What’s Growing in your Garden?

Terri’s Flower Hour #28: Flowers on the Water

In 2013, we were traveling in Alaska from Tok to North Pole when we stopped beside this pond covered with Yellow Pond Lilies.

Yellow Pond Lilies in Alaska

On another trip, we wandered around in the gardens at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

Garden at the Biltmore Estate, North Carolina
Garden at the Biltmore Estate, North Carolina

Sharing with Terri’s Flower Hour #28: Flowers in the Water