Have you ever been scared of something you know was a bit silly? For those who have been with me for awhile, you probably know from an earlier post that one of those silly things that scared me was rabbits. Yes, cute little bunny rabbits. Thanks to the 1978 animated movie, Watership Down, those adorable little creatures have been a life long terrifying bundle of cuteness for me. So I decided to deal with that fear through art which prompted my art card drawing “Hazel“. It’s amazing how working through that drawing and doing a little research on rabbits helped me through how much those little creatures would freak me out. It helped to the point that I have now added the rabbit to my short list of spirit animals.
Since then I’ve been thinking about other creatures in Nature that cause me to wig out.
So in the spirit of this upcoming Halloween season here are the beginnings of a three part art card series on other creatures that cause my heart to race a little faster, inspired to triumph over those little childhood fears that still lurk in the shadows of our adult lives, projecting themselves into our daily realities at the most inopportune times…though I doubt that any of these will end up on my spirit list. 😋
Carve & Draw 
Here’s a playlist so you can pick which one or ones you want to play (if any). It’s digital animation, not 2D, so there might be a touch more realism than you want. You need the sound on for the creature’s little child-voice. And may I suggest that if you can’t cope with the visuals of the first one you choose, that you try another one with the sound on but close your eyes. Just get used to the silly little voice (a child’s voice) first, so you know what is happening and that you don’t have to be scared of it? That way you won’t talk yourself into a fear scenario before you know what is happening. They are made for children to help them no be frightened of spiders.
I’ll separate the parts of this link with spaces so that it doesn’t open as an embedded video in my comment. Close the spaces yourself when you paste it into the address bar in your browser.
https:// www. youtube. com/results ?search_query =lucas+ the+spider
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Awww, these videos are cute…my muscles still tighten up but I can at least watch a video without wanting to scream and run away in horror. Thanks Val. 😊
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Good. 🙂
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The trick is to try to find things about the animals/critters you’re frightened of, that most resemble a human… just ignore the bits that don’t. With luck, eventually, the parts that seemed frightening won’t be anymore. I’ve done that with butterflies, moths, dragon flies, and other things. 🙂 x
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I tried to focus on Lucas eyes and voice. As long as he’s still I’m okay but once those hair little legs get to moving I get all tense. But I’ll keep that tidbit in mind. Humanizing the creature helps.
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PS. If you look at fruit bats without concentrating on their wings, they are really very cute – particularly as babies. From there you could work your way up to other types of bat. 🙂
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I’m nearly (nearly) over most of my dislike of spiders. It’s not entirely a fear, but sometimes… Well anyway, I’m trying to find a way to get over my last ‘fear’ which is of Crane Flies. Acgtually it’s their legs. I’m mostly over it but they still creep me out a bit. I don’t think I could draw them… not yet. You’ve done really well with getting over your bunny-phobia, hopefully this new series will help you come to terms with the other stuff.
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After looking at pictures of bats, I think that will be the easiest to get over. Snakes, I’m feeling a bit ambivalent but spiders, I think that’s here to stay. Things that have more than two eyes and/or four legs just creep me out.
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Have you seen any of the vids of tiny jumping spiders? When they are zoomed in on them, their main eyes at the front look like usual two eyes and it’s fairly easy to imagine that the others don’t exist. Well, that’s how I do it anyway. Also, they hold their legs close to their body and so they tend to look more compact and less leggy than most.
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I just tried to watch a video on YouTube. Can’t do it. 15 seconds into the video and my skin started to crawl and my muscles tensed up. 😬
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How about a kids animation? I know a good one (it’s gentle and is much more cartoon than anything else.)
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That may work. 😀
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I’ll see if I can find it. 🙂 (And I’ll try to post it so that it doesn’t open as a video but just posts as a link… if I can remember how!)
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That would be great. Thank you for your help. 😊
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You’re welcome. I’ve lived with a multitude of weird phobias through my life, so I know what it’s like. Have got rid of many but not all.
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When I saw the title “Little Fears” I was mildly surprised that that one of them wasn’t a bunny 😉
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Great teamwork! I was amazed by the spiders(look like daddy long legs but are spiders)..
When nothing flew into webs they got over their hate of roaches(long story-beware of where you get sterios from) and moved their lines lower. Or as my son calls them-spider trip lines. There are some in the bathroom-canabals!They attack their own. I’ve caught and released mamas guarding egg sacks because the others are waiting for ‘lunch’.
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What do you do with the egg sacks?
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They go with mom. She carries it in her mouth.
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Oh okay. I just learned something about spiders today…they still creep me out but the seem a little more relatable. 😌
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😁
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I just posted a picture of a spider and her egg case. Its the rounder end of her. Going to try to catch her and release her tomorrow. Put her in a plant.
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I would like to see the picture but your wordpress site keeps coming up as having been deleted.
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Oops see theanonfile.wordpress.com
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A few summers agowe got rid of a black snake under our house. I love to feed the birds and squirrels. Mice invite themselves in. I miss that snake now.
I also let spiders be. They eat the other bugs…but if a tarantula shows up I’m gone!
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Lol. I can’t even look at pictures of spiders without having to fight back the urge to scream. We have a lot trees around our house, so spiders are always getting in, making webs around the doorways and even getting into our cars. We also grow vegetables in our backyard. But ever since our cat died we’ve been getting mice in the house. My hubby is terrified of them. So as a trade off I take care of the mice and he gets rid of the spiders. I think I can work through my fear of snakes and bats but unless it’s those small thin spiders, I’ll probably be freakin’ out over them for the rest of my life.
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