Art | Cathy C. Hall Writes

So like I said, it’s been busy with all kinds of party-making ’round here. Just the other day, I zipped down to the neighbor’s house to celebrate their daughter’s high school graduation, and whilst stuffing my face with a delicious petit four (Fun fact for the day: petit four is a French word that means “small oven.”), I had a little chat with the neighbor’s dad.

The neighbor’s dad, it turns out, reads this blog faithfully. Which may not seem exactly blog-worthy, but here’s the thing. The neighbor’s dad is not a writer. Has never been a writer, and as far as I know, doesn’t want to ever become a writer. (He’s a retired physician and accomplished artist, actually.) Naturally, I was surprised that he would read a blog on, well…basically, writing.

It was at this point in our little conversation that he admitted to skipping a lot of the writing stuff. Fair enough. But he likes the other parts.

Um…I’m not sure what other parts he likes. The artfully-arranged pictures? My insouciant turn of a phrase? The witty ambiance of the blog?

Anyway, I thought, it being Fun Friday, I’d find some funny art. Because come on, guys. The man’s been reading this blog forever.

And now, without further ado, I present 13 Weird Paintings, courtesy of CollegeHumor. This one’s for you, Warren!

(The rest of y’all choose one of those weird paintings as a writing prompt. Except for the alien, chimp and baby pic. I mean, even the Beneficent Mr. Hall could come up with 500 words for that.)

I ran across this most amazing website a few weeks ago and so you must really dash along here if you want to send in an entry for the map contest! But even without the contest, you’re going to love these wonderfully illustrated recipes and maps.

Take a look at They Draw & Cook…but I must warn you that you’ll get sucked in for a while. The art work is SO clever, and honestly, I don’t even like to cook and I wanted to try some of these recipes. If you have an artsy side, you can even submit a recipe yourself, maybe end up in the next cook book. (You can shop for the book and really cool fonts, or mugs or…well, zip over here to see the Monkey Banana Shop where proceeds benefit the World Food Program USA. That’s pretty neat, right?)

And if you are an artist, you’ll want to check out the map contest at They Draw & Travel. HUGE prizes but not a lot of time to get that map finished (Deadline February 10th!!!!). You know, I don’t think you have to be a Rembrandt kind of artist for this contest. If you’re creative and inventive and have a favorite place, I’ll bet you could draw something swell. Not that I can draw much beyond stick men (Hence, Cathy-on-a-Stick is a photo of me on a stick) but I’ve met lots of writers who can also draw, or paint, or dance or play music. So, I wanted to pass this contest along to you incredibly talented people (who through no fault of your own make me feel somewhat inadequate).

Anyway, it’s Friday and time for a lovely little break. I watched this animated short called “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” which just happens to be nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards’ Best Animated Short Category. And yes, it’s 15 minutes. But after only a minute, you’ll see why it’s up for an Oscar. And if you love books, you’ll see why it made me cry (in a totally uplifting and lovely way). Enjoy.