NFTShowroom partnered with 
This challenge is for the full month of July. To join in check out NFTShowroom's challenge post here: nftshowroom X alienarthive challenge for July: The Four Elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire)
To participate:
- Make art incorporating the Four Elements (Earth, Water, Air, or Fire) themes
- mint it on https://nftshowroom.com/
- make a blog post about it in Alien Art Hive
- use nftshowroom& in your tags
Below is my first collage design depicting the Earth theme.
"Thorns of Plenty" sprang from my mind in the form of an Earth theme as a reminder not to overlook the obvious in my senior years as I did when younger and inexperienced.
Before designing my current collage project consisting of mixed media, I wanted to share a poem I wrote to portray an array of prickly flowers to accompany my design. The poem reflects a lifetime of longing in an unequal relationship.
Thorns Of Plenty
I am girdled by the beauty
of your love.
I bask in its delicate flowers.
By day I ignore the thorns.
By night I suppress the feelings.
Decades pass.
I keep the faith we will last.
Shadows descend like a cloud pursuing my bliss.
Until I conceded the two who became one
were no more.
Doubts flowed and burst open your contempt.
Ever so slowly, I retreated.
Prickly thorns of deceit I couldn't escape.
Why didn't you just leave
while the scab had yet snatched my joy.
But you didn't.
The flowers' dusty manure overwhelmed;
prickling, drowning me
in the lonely sands of time.
Leaving me bleeding; bleeding; bloody.
Until blood could no longer drip heartache.
Until the flowers withered and died from despair,
and I faded into the petal abyss of tomorrow.
Forever hurting, searching, wondering what went awry,
In the flowers of plenty.
NFT Showroom Information:
Name: Thorns of Plenty
Date Minted: 6/29/25
Link: Thorns of Plenty
Number Minted: 5
Cost: 5 Swap.Hive/each
Below are my steps for designing the project.
I assembled the images to be included that I felt fit the theme of a thorny relationship. The primary image was that of a pure fractal I created in the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X. Remember, a pure fractal is a visual representation of the iterations formed from complex mathematical equations. Most fractals I render on a transparent background. However, once you apply a dark background, the fractal's intricate details come to life.
Pure fractal with dark-blue background added to show the difference between rendering on a transparent background.
One of the remaining images was that of a butterfly I retrieved from an AI program I use regularly, Night Cafe. The AI program can do nothing without human input into the description. How descriptive and creative you are with your text input partially determines how your result with look. Of course, many of the AI programs have prompt assistants to help design a more interesting image.
Night Cafe Text input:
"How a full-body white-freckled butterfly facing me transformed into an ethereal alien Epic cinematic brilliant stunning intricate meticulously detailed dramatic atmospheric maximalist digital matte painting horror Gustave Doré Greg Rutkowski".
Weight: 1
Model: DALL-E 2
Initial Resolution: Thumb
Aspect Ratio: 1:1
Runtime: Short
Night Cafe Result:
Other free-sourced images I included are listed below:
| Item | Contributor | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Pedaled Flowers | Canva | Link |
| Magical Jar | Pixabay | Link |
SECOND, utilized Canva, my design program, to blend the different type images into a collage. I leave with you my procedures which began with a blank, white canvas. I then added layers of elements.
THIRD, I took my still version to Deep Dream Generator and produced the video which I minted on NFTShowroom. I share with you my completed collage project and the video version. Deep Dream Generator prepares their videos in MP4 format. In order to display it here, I needed to convert the MP4 to a gif. This was accomplished in Canva.
Prompt:
"I fade away with thoughts of you into the abyss."
Model: Runway
Size: 896 X 720 (0.65 MP)
Aspect ratio: landscape
Thanks for taking the time to view my post. I hope you like my mixed media collage project for the July Earth theme.
Good luck everyone with whatever your endeavors.
SUPPORTS THESE COMMUNITIES:
SOURCES:
a) JustClickindiva's Footer created in Canva utilizing its free background and images used with permission from discord admins.
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10" Tablet, (ii) Samsung Phone, & (iii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Community logos, banners, page dividers used with permission of Discord Channel admins.
e) Ladies of Hive banner used with permission of and in accordance with the admin's guidelines
f) Thumbnail Image created by me in Canva.
g) "Flames." What is Apophysis 2.09. https://flam3.com/
English is my native language.
If translation included, I use DeepL to assist my readers.
Thanks for your patience an understanding.