Celebrating our sketches – June 2019

Moment Sketchers, what an amazing number of things we have to celebrate about our June sketching challenge. First things first, this month’s challenge featured the beautiful work of 92 sketch artists — making it our biggest challenge of the year so far, and if I’m not mistaken, even our second biggest of all time. It is an extraordinary thrill to see our community continue to grow and resonate with people all across the world.

But what I’m especially excited to celebrate in this challenge review is something I kept observing throughout last weekend — and it all started with a sunflower.

A gorgeous, glowing sunflower, to be precise, that Dorothy captured in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. While her flowing lines and unexpected perspective would have been more than enough to enjoy, what I loved even more was that just a few sketches earlier, there was another vivid sunflower gracing our #momentsketchers feed, this time captured by Kate in Oregon.

I couldn’t help but marvel at how in two completely different parts of the world, two artists had been drawn to find inspiration in the same vibrant flower:

But no sooner had I begun to marvel at Kate and Dorothy’s parallel sketches when it happened again — this time with Sarah in Italy sharing a wonderful spread of the wildflowers blooming all around her cabin, and Michell in California, whose hike on Sunday took twice as long to complete because she kept stopping to sketch all the wildflowers she came across:

And then it happened a third time, as I noticed both Treava in Canada and Yvonne in Germany had drawn the birds (and bird feeders) making a home in their backyards:

These unexpected parallels in our sketches — or echoes, as I like to think of them — are one of my favorite things about Moment Sketchers. I never cease to marvel at each serendipitous connection between two artists in our community; in a way, it makes me feel like we’re all in conversation with each other, no matter how distant we may be from one another physically in the world.

This month’s challenge reminded me that at any time, a sunflower or a singing robin — and the sketches they inspire — can make the world feel more connected.

There’s something rather magical that happens as the year progresses and summer begins to arrive in the Northern Hemisphere — slowly, the sketches you share in each challenge grow greener and greener, as you’re able to venture outside more often and draw inspiration from the great outdoors.

For our June challenge, I want to celebrate this verdant arrival of summer, and the beautiful moments you captured in nature this month. You found beauty in meadows and mountains, in quiet country lanes and rolling farmland, and as seen in Sarah’s lovely sketch of her new plants waiting to be potted, sometimes right in your very own backyard:

To view the rest of the images from our June 2019 sketching challenge, all you need to do is visit this link to see the entire gallery — and even if you don’t have an Instagram account, you can still view it in your browser.

Moment Sketchers, thank you for showing up to our challenges each month — with your sketches, with your support for each other, and with the spirit that makes our community the inspiring tribe it is.