Tarantulas, Tea Pots and Tufted Titmice — Oh My!

Assorted Interesting Things, Creativity Link Roundup, from WordPress and the Internet

Art, Photography and the Written Word

Photo by Henry Becerra on Unsplash

I thought the photo above was fitting for this post, because you know what Forrest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” What do tarantulas and tea pot pinatas have in common? Not much — other than things Susan reads on the Internet. Enjoy this interesting assortment, and I hope you make some new discoveries.

An artist friend, Christine Kerrick, wrote about her travel adventures in Mexico for Cinco de Mayo and showed off her painting of a Mexican red knee tarantula. She is, perhaps, the only woman I know with a fascination for tarantulas, particularly the colorful kind. (Sorry arachnophobes.) And, please, check out her art page. There is much more to her art than this particular example.

Jane Austen Runs My Life shared about her Jane Austen themed birthday party and gives the instructions for creating a tea pot pinata, which was filled with — what else? — tea bags and candy.

Donna at My One Beautiful Thing shares birdfeeder photography by Ostdrossel on Instagram. The photos are mostly birds, but she catches some other critters on camera as well, such as bunnies and squirrels.

Photo by Ostdrossel

Pam Webb, children’s writer and English teacher, shares my love of words and etymology. Read her post, Why We Say: From Villain to Windfall, to learn the origins of some common words and expressions.

Allison at A Farm Girl’s Life gives us a tour of her sketchbook. This beautiful farm scene with scattered bovines was one of my favorite spreads. You can find a little this and that on her site: sketches, photography or stories of farm life.

Photo and art by Allison of A Farm Girl’s Life. Makes me think of “All things bright and beautiful.”

Mitch Teemley, who describes himself as a writer, filmmaker, humorist and thinker-about-stuffer, writes some spiritual thoughts about the butterfly effect and repairing relationships.

Photo by Nathan Dunlao on Unsplash

Andrea R. Huelsenbeck of ARHtistic License shares an interesting formula for generating story ideas by selecting random story elements from different columns in a chart. It could be a fun creative writing exercise.

Danish travel blogger and photographer, Le Drake Noir, caught some amazing photos of a hare nursing her babies.

Photo by Le Drake Noir

Another artist friend, Jeffrey M. Green, shares his spiritual thoughts on race relations in God’s Color Palette in Human Design. Unlike many other things we hear these days, I trust his post promotes peace and harmony. Jeffrey is an absolutely amazing colored pencil artist. Below is his drawing, “Respect for Others.”