Best Of MetaFilter

Crested Tit, by Roy Scholten, from his 50 birds project.

JY14-VACHAGAN NARAZYAN, Small Victory, 2005, 7.75in x 13.5in, oil on canvas

cupcakeninja posted about Ukrainian painter Vachagan Narazyan, whose dreamlike paintings "offer imaginings of fantastic journeys both horizontally (representing physical experiences) and vertically (representing intellectual and spiritual learning ) to take place in a space between heaven and earth."

image by Marco Verch on Flickr

Faintdreams posted the neato Free Mixed Media Art Supplies Compatibility Chart by artist, designer and educator Nela Dunato: "the most detailed free art mediums compatibility reference!"

A years long search for the cover artist of an edition of "A Wrinkle in Time" comes to an end with the help of WBUR's Endless Thread podcast

Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium by paukrus (cc by)

Some great recent posts on the natural world:

A 17th-Century Woman Artist’s Butterfly Journey: gorgeous images and bio info on early entomologist-artist Maria Sibylla Merian

The inner life of the fig: documentary on the sycamore fig tree, focusing on the intricate mutualism between a fig tree and its fig wasp

A tree grows in Israel: an extinct Judean Date Palm is grown from an ancient jar of seeds unearthed by archaeologists

My hovercraft is full of Petromyzon marinus: science, lore, and more on the fearsome sea lamprey

Satan Put the Kettle On: the mystery of Devil's Kettle Falls' vanishing waterfall

Laputa: Castle in the Sky / 天空の城ラピュタ（バルス後） by Tatsuya Tanaka

Recently on Mefi, people and places around the world, enchanting, mysterious and magnetic:

World Jollof Rice Day, you say? Jollof rice is a traditional West African dish, but not a humble one

From the Persian for "eyebrow," Ebru (paper marbling) has a long tradition in Turkey

The villagers of Kannauj have inherited a remarkable skill: They can capture the scent of rain

Au Revoir, Mogadishu Vol. 1 — Songs From Before The War: '70s and '80s Somali sound

Since April 20, 2011, Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka has created tiny dioramas with common household objects as landscape for tiny people, one every day

Chiara Vigo is the last master of weaving the sea-silk cloth bysso and showcases her art at Museo del Bisso in Sant'Antioco, Sardinia