I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal is an international mosaiculture competition held in Montréal, Canada. According to their website, mosaiculture “is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colourful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials).” The 2013 competition and exhibition opened June 22 and runs through September 29 at the Montréal Botanical Garden and features some 22,000 plant species and cultivars distributed throughout 10 exhibition greenhouses and 30 themed gardens.

Qiandao Lake (Chinese: 千島湖, lit. Thousand Island Lake), a man-made lake located in Chun'an County, Zhejiang, China, formed after the completion of the Xin'an River hydroelectric station in 1959. 1,078 large islands dot the lake and a few thousand smaller ones are scattered across it. The lake covers an area of 573 km² and has a storage capacity of 17.8 km³. The islands in the lake cover about 86 km²

Hope Solo of the USA looks dejected after losing 3-5 after penalty shoot-out the FIFA Women's World Cup Final match between Japan and USA at the FIFA World Cup stadium Frankfurt on July 17, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

“The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A rocket, similar to the Al-Qassam rockets used against Israeli is prepared for launch as new members of the Islamic Jihad fighters show their skills as they attend a military show in the former Israeli jewish settlement of Atsmona September 26, 2008 in Rafah, southern of Gaza Strip. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

“Sorpresa” the clown poses for a picture during a march commemorating Peruvian clown day in Lima Peru, Monday, May 25, 2015. Hundreds of professional clowns dressed in colorful costumes, wigs and face paint marched through the streets of Lima to celebrate Peruvian Clown Day. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask enjoys a ride on a 350-meter (1148 feet) long water slide during 2015 City Silde Festa in central Seoul, South Korea, July 19, 2015. A 350 meter-long waterslide has been installed in downtown of Seoul, the longest waterslide to be recorded in Korea, according to local media. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A worker stands under the Airlander 10 hybrid airship during its unveiling in Cardington, Britain March 21, 2016. The world's largest aircraft has been unveiled for the first time since being fully assembled in the UK. The 302ft (92m) long Airlander 10 – part plane, part airship – was floated in a First World War hangar in Bedfordshire. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)