S2OC9. Rising Waters - Growing Through Challenge
How can we transform adversity into empowerment? For Season 2 of the acclaimed Art Therapy with MindSoul Meditations series, we invite you to submit artworks that explore the theme:
"Rising Waters – Growing Through Challenge"
Use your creativity to visually represent how obstacles can become stepping stones—how rising waters can lift us rather than drown us, how pressure creates diamonds, or how floods can nourish the soil for new life.
All Mediums Welcome
While we embrace AI-generated art for its accessibility, we welcome all forms of expression—painting, sculpture, performance, drawing, digital art, music, and more.
The submission form is at the bottom of this page.
Congratulations Winners!
FEATURED ARTIST & GUEST CURATOR: CPT.SOLO
Based in the Ukraine, CPT.SOLO has over 30 years experience in the arts. He has a passion for traditional mediums, digital, 3D, AI, CG/FX, photo/video/music.
Follow him at @TheEugeArts
“Roots in the Tempest” reveals how adversity—reflected in dark skies and a turbulent sea—does not drown us, but instead fortifies our deepest roots when we choose to anchor ourselves in them. The glowing butterfly and radiant sun in the clear sky symbolize inner transformation and the hope that empowers us to rise. This piece invites us to recognize that, despite external chaos, our inner strength and unwavering resilience allow us to grow and move steadily toward the light.
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This painting symbolizes the journey through life’s hardships—where the stormy, chaotic path eventually gives way to clarity and peace, reflecting growth, resilience, and hope beyond struggle.
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A woman stands shoulder-deep in a churning sea—a metaphor for navigating turbulent times. Balanced atop her head is a water bowl, a symbol of women’s ancestral role as bearers of sustenance, memory, and endurance. Her upward gaze suggests hope, resolve, and a search for higher meaning amid adversity. Around her, seashells and coral—ancient life forms shaped by pressure and time—represent continuity and quiet resilience. She stands as a vessel—composed, receptive, and spiritually grounded. Her stillness is not resignation, but a conscious act of equilibrium. The artwork embodies temperance as a guiding principle: the ability to remain centered amid chaos, to hold both sorrow and serenity without being overtaken by either. It invites reflection on how balance, patience, and inner strength can transform hardship into clarity and quiet power.
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Even in the darkness of what feels like a shattered reality, the sun remains and will always bring light to any situation. Meditate, remain calm, stay in the current moment, don't project into a future that does not exist, embrace the sun and get as much time out of doors as you can. You will regenerate your mind and your body.
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.@muriellondon QT #ShowMeSomethingElse #MurielLhermChallenge tag I have no friends. #NFTJPN #NFT
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glowing vines burst from cracks in the concrete, wrapping the ruins in green. A luminous tide rises around them, but they remain upright, defiant. The waters symbolize chaos, but life grows in spite of it
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This art piece has for its focal point a person covered with patterned textures that are visual metaphors for storied scars that through time have hardened or have grown as its armor, signifying strength forged in struggle. Growth and hope are introduced with the person emerging from the water. The bold colored, feather-like extensions covering the eyes symbolize vision—one that transcends hardships to see possibilities beyond the turbulence. The interplay of vibrant colors, movement, and surreal imagery reflects the energy required to navigate challenges, turning obstacles into “stepping stones.” This art is my way of celebrating the beauty of overcoming, the necessity of adaptation, and the grace of persistence. Rising waters don’t drown us—they lift us higher.
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In She Rose with the Water, a woman floats in a half-sitting position on a tranquil pond, her white dress billowing gently around her. Pink flowers drift beside her, while others are etched into her skin—tattoos that speak of healing, pain, and transformation. This piece reflects my own journey through illness and recovery, where the very challenges that threatened to pull me under became the waters that taught me how to float. Her posture is both restful and resilient—a moment of surrender without defeat. The rising waters no longer overwhelm; instead, they hold her, allowing her to bloom. Through this artwork, I honor the quiet strength it takes to grow through hardship, and how even in uncertainty, beauty can rise to the surface.
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She met the storm not with defiance, but with dissolution. Where others broke, she unshaped herself, limbs threading into tide, hair unraveling into current. Not a retreat, but a reformation. Not conquered, but re-formed. The sea rose to claim her, but she rose faster, not above it, within it.
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They thought the flood would drown her. But she became the tide. Her hands glowed with the weight of all she carried. Her eyes, closed not in fear, but in transformation. Beneath the surface, something ancient stirred not weakness, but wonder. And just like water, she rose.
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This piece, Breach Bloom: Become, explores the paradox of rupture as a vehicle for renewal. A towering concrete dam—scarred, massive, immovable—bears a single crack through which water flows, not with chaos, but with grace. From this breach, wildflowers and glowing spores erupt, vibrant against the muted gray of the structure. The word "BECOME" is carved into the face of the dam—a command, a plea, or maybe a prophecy. At the base, a lone figure sits in quiet witness. They are not fighting the flood—they are observing, perhaps understanding for the first time that the collapse was necessary for growth. The pressure that built up didn’t just break the wall; it gave birth to something new. This image embodies the theme of “Rising Waters – Growing Through Challenge” by transforming adversity into transformation. The dam’s failure is not the end. It is the start of becoming.
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This evocative mixed-media painting symbolizes human endurance and spiritual awakening in the face of environmental and personal upheaval. At the heart of the composition is a weathered male figure, eyes closed in deep introspection, emerging from turbulent blue waters. Despite the rising chaos, a serene lotus blooms from his chest—representing purity, resilience, and rebirth. On either side, melting Himalayan peaks drip into the floodwaters, a direct reference to the climate crisis and humanity’s disregard for nature. Fiery orange and red strokes spiral around the figure’s head like solar flares, signifying both destruction (industrial greed, rising temperatures) and a fiery inner strength. The man’s closed eyes reflect acceptance—not of defeat, but of inner transformation. He stands as a symbol of those who carry legacy and responsibility, who absorb the damage yet choose calm over collapse. The red lines throughout the canvas act like energy veins—connecting earth,
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Even in the midst of destruction, small acts of care and hope—like nurturing a fragile plant—can transform adversity into a powerful opportunity for renewal and growth.
This painting represents the quiet strength that emerges through personal struggle, showing how growth often begins within—transforming a weary, uncertain self into one of resilience, confidence, and inner light.
I wanted to transform the idea of rising water from a symbol of danger into one of hope and resilience. In this painting, the floodwaters become stepping stones, lifting people upward rather than pulling them under. The staircase, half-submerged, represents how challenges can be turned into opportunities for growth. Above, storm clouds and rain give way to radiant light, where a bare tree stands as a symbol of endurance and renewal. Below the surface, glowing stones and vibrant roots reveal hidden beauty and strength formed under pressure. Every figure is on a journey—rising, adapting, and moving toward the light. This scene is my tribute to the human spirit’s ability to transform adversity into new beginnings.
Walking through the depths of our challenges and despair creates growth and a metamorphosis into freedom with new wings.
Embrace Your Oneness With The Earth and Everything Within It. You Are Never Alone.
This Poppy Girl Speaks Volumes!
This image is a breathtaking representation of perseverance, transformation, and the gradual refinement that comes from enduring life’s pressures. The clenched fist, tightly gripping a growing diamond, symbolizes the immense struggle required to shape something precious. The scattered, smaller diamonds surrounding the fist reinforce the idea that resilience isn’t instantaneous is forged through effort, time, and countless moments of adversity. At its core, *Rising Waters - Growing Through Challenge* is about the intersection of struggle and triumph. The fist, firm and unyielding, embodies the human will to push forward despite overwhelming pressure. It doesn’t let go, it doesn’t surrender; instead, it exerts control, channeling hardship into creation. This mirrors the way challenges test our strength, compelling us to evolve rather than succumb. The imagery of water being compressed into a diamond amplifies this theme—water, fluid and adaptable, represents the journey, whi
Against the relentless force of nature, a single tree stands defiant—its roots gripping a jagged rock as floodwaters crash violently against its foundation. The currents rage, the storm persists, yet the tree refuses to fall. It embodies the essence of resilience, thriving not in spite of adversity but because of it. This image is not simply one of survival, it is a testament to endurance, to the unwavering strength required to **grow through challenge. Yet the tree is more than just a survivor—it is a shelter. Nestled against its trunk, a lone deer finds refuge, waiting for the storm to pass.This image is more than a portrayal of survival—it is an ode to resilience, reminding us that struggle does not define weakness. True strength is found in **the ability to withstand, to adapt, and to shelter others even in the face of adversity. Like the tree, we do not simply endure challenges—we grow through them.
This image is a stunning visual representation of resilience, transformation, and the power of rising above adversity. At its core, it encapsulates the theme *Rising Waters - Growing Through Challenge*, using the symbolism of fluid motion, turbulent waves, and a luminous figure emerging from the depths. The figure, seemingly composed of water itself, stands in defiance of the stormy sea surrounding them. Their body is dynamic shifting, cascading, and flowing, yet forming something distinct and powerful. They are not drowning; they are evolving through the very challenge that threatens to consume them. This speaks of the essence of growth through struggle: when faced with overwhelming forces, one can either be overcome or use them as fuel for transformation.