* Taking inspiration from one of my favourite blogs, Old Brand New

I have not been able to stop looking at these lovely photographs of “camouflaged” birds, ever since I saw them on Honestly WTF. They are part of a series called “Birds of a Feather” by artist Claire Rosen and each of the birds – some of them common and others exotic – has been posed in front of vintage wallpaper. I think the idea of ‘wild’ birds in such a domestic setting and so consciously posed is incredibly fun and playful. It’s like a children’s storybook. Like the Big Bad Wolf all dressed up in Grandma’s bonnet.

Browsing through the rest of Claire’s portfolio is like taking a tumble down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass all at once. I asked her where she found inspiration, and she pointed me to a beautiful, interactive board she created on “A Creative Life.” What you see below is just a screen-shot of a small portion of the board. Take a look at the entire board here (tip: I couldn’t open this in Firefox. If you are having trouble, try with a different browser) and click on the various boxes to uncover the inspiration behind them.

Claire says, “Everyone has the capacity to be creative and it starts by creating a safe space to be creative in. Creativity is a muscle that needs to be exercised and fed with inspiration.” Would you agree with her?

Credits:

As mentioned, the image above is a screen-grab of a much larger board created by Claire Rosen. The original is found on fusings.com. All Birds of a Feather images are used here with kind permission from Claire Rosen. Credits are as follows.

WEBSITE : www.clairerosenphoto.com
INSTAGRAM : @clairerosenphoto
BOOK: http://www.blurb.com/b/4708660-birds-of-a-feather

LIMITED EDITION ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINTS on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper
signed and numbered on front
40 x 60 inches    (edition of 05)     
25.5 x 17 inches (edition of 10)            
11 x 16.5 inches (edition of 15)             
6 x  4 inches (edition of 150)    

The Birds of a Feather series will be in an exhibit in September at the Hagedorn Foundation Gallery (http://www.hfgallery.org) in Atlanta, GA with an artist reception on Thursday Oct. 16th.

Little things in my home…

This pensive cowboy sits outside his restaurant and on my kitchen bench. I found his photograph in a bric-a-brac shop in Aspen, Colorado, when I was staying up there for a fiction writer’s course (called Aspen Summer Words – if you ever get the opportunity take it – it was amazing!).

I almost didn’t share the cowboy today because the whole purpose of this series is to tell the stories behind the little things in my home. Like this. Or this. Or this. And I don’t know the story of this cowboy. Nor have I created a story for him since bringing him home. But I am so deeply drawn to this picture, and I don’t even know why. I never tire of looking at it, or thinking about it, and wondering what is his story? What is the story of this new town?

“Little Things” is an occasional series about the stories behind some of the little things you’ll find around my home. Are there stories behind the little things in your home? I’d love you to tell me about them! Or if you’d like to join in and write a post like this of your own, don’t forget to share a link to it so I can read it.

This stunning photographic suite of a little Russian girl at play with her cat is my new happy place. I could say more but really I think the photographs speak for themselves. Watch these two grow up together, so lovely!

The photographer, Andy Prokh, was born in Siberia. He is a former economist who switched careers after more than 10 years, and turned to photography instead. Take a look through the gallery of his works. I find it a little bit Alice in Wonderland-esque: one minute dark, the next funny, now I’m confused, now I’m in love.

All images used with Andy’s Prokh’s kind permission

(A little secret: there is an awesome, not-sponsored giveaway at the end of this post)

What does “family” mean to you?

When I was a little girl not much older than Madeleine is now (almost two), one of my favourite books was a Little Golden Book called Happy Family. The book was written in the 1950s and it was oh so 1950s America. It starred two children Tony and Peggy, their parents, a dog named Skipper and a cat named Kiki. Over the years I have wondered why I loved that story so much. It was pretty boring really. Vanilla. From memory, they have a party or go to the beach or something. They get ice cream. It’s no The Monster at the End of this Book or The Tiger Who Came to Tea, both of which I also loved. (Still do.)

And even back when I was growing up, families were a lot more diverse than Tony and Peggy would have had us believe.

And now here we are in 2014 and a new magazine called Alphabet Family Journal is about to launch. It celebrates families in every iteration and in all the messy inconsistencies that make up what we call “home.” I don’t know if there will be any “Mum, Dad & 2.5 kids”-style families in the first issue of Alphabet. I guess there could be, since that’s one version of a family, and it’s as valid as the next. But I really like the way the people behind Alphabet Family Journal define “family” in the broadest possible sense: “people who make a home together.”

I feel like this magazine has been written for me in all the stages of my adult life. For the me that is a wife, a mother to two children under two, and a stepmother to two almost-grown-up girls who live here sometimes but not all times. But also for the me that was single and living alone (except for my dog) in an apartment in New York, with a “family” that was made up of my closest friends and neighbours. And for the me that lived in a dormitory on my university campus, emotionally lost and spiritually confused and longing, desperately, to be part of the kind family I thought would make me “legitimate” in the eyes of my peers.

It’s possible I’ve drawn a rather long bow from a simple definition, and that maybe Alphabet Family Journal won’t quite meet every expectation I’ve built up for it in my head. But I’m fairly confident it will come close. Each issue promises to present stories, ideas and curiosities about “family,” inspired by a letter of the alphabet. Starting, not exactly surprisingly, with A. So the first issue covers topics from living with Aspergers to the challenges of Attention in everyday life, an honest look at Adoption, a moving study of Audio in our homes and photo essays themed Africa, Autumn Nights, Abode, Alstonville and Anticipation.

In a Kickstarter campaign to launch the magazine, founder and creative director (Sydney-based photographer Luisa Brimble) said “It seemed like many parenting or family-related magazines were representations of a polished, perfect home that was, quite simply, not at all like our own homes. So we set out to create an alternative: a family journal that celebrates the personal foundations of our homes in their many different forms.” With the help of crowd-funding they also made a commitment to recognise and reward the work of their contributors, something too few independent publications do these days.

I can’t wait to read it! After all, as the creators say, “We’re what you read when you want to feel like you belong.”

And as for Happy Family? After probably way too much thought, I have come to realise that what I loved so much about it was the extended story-line. They get up, they have a party, they have some fun, they go to bed. In children’s book land, that should be the end of the story. But guess what? They wake up the next morning and have MORE VANILLA ADVENTURES. And what did that mean? Delayed lights-out time for toddler me! Shazam. Mystery solved.

>> Keep scrolling for the giveaway, after the pretty pictures >>

Photo credit above: Elize Strydom. All photographs courtesy of Alphabet Family Journal

A giveaway

When I decided to write this post I contacted Luisa Brimble to ask for her permission to use some photographs. She very kindly sent through all the photos you see here, and more, to give you a sneak peek of what’s inside Alphabet Family Journal. But even more generously, she also offered to give away a free copy of Issue 1 AND this gorgeous “Be Kind” poster by Bianca Cash (I am so jealous) to one of you! I figured you’d be pretty happy about that so I said a big YES, THANK YOU.

To be in the running, simply leave a comment below telling me what “family” means to you. It can be one word or a whole essay, anything you like. I just appreciate this chance to get to know you better. For an extra chance in the draw, share the love by going over to the Alphabet Family Journal Facebook Page and hitting “like” (then let me know you’ve done-so). I’ll draw the winner at random at 4.50pm on this Friday 13 (oooh!) June, Melbourne time. Good luck!

Sorry, the competition is only available within Australia.

UPDATE 13/06/14: This competition is now CLOSED. Thank you all for your interest and for all the amazing, beautiful and moving thoughts and feelings you shared about “family.” And a big, heartfelt congratulations to the winner, Zanni.

1. Photos

How great is this “Lightcase“? It’s a small, portable studio that you can use to take professional-style photographs of the things you make and love, even with just an iPhone.

2. Pandas

The sweetest little friends ever to sit on your finger: these miniature crocheted animals from SuAmi in Vietnam are the best! This one is a red panda. (Seen via B for Bel)

3. Pancakes

We make a lot of faces out of food around our place these days. But nothing quite as clever as this “Crack a Smile” pancake mold!

4. Paper

These Haibara letter-and-envelope sets caught my eye a few months back, and I keep coming back to them. I love how bold and clean they are, and those red outlines make them look like drawings of envelopes. (Seen via Swiss Miss)

5. Paintings

This has to be one of my favourite public art projects and if you didn’t dream about moving to Paris before, you will now. Etienne Lavie replaced billboard advertisements all over the city with classic works of art. Not long after that, he did the same in Milan. Tres belle, oui?

1. Instagram marshmallows

What a fun, quirky, tasty gift these would make! Seen via Poppytalk

2. Beaker BLT

This made me laugh. I’m all about making pictures out of food lately, to get Madeleine to eat her vegetables. Although this certainly blows my smiley-face and cat-face bean-and-carrot concoctions out of the water! And it’s just in time for the new Muppets movie, too. Seen on Handmade Charlotte

3. Kombi toaster

Have I shared this one before? I feel like I have. Or was that the Kombi tent. Either way, I’m still a fan and if you are too, you can buy your own from The Fowndry. It’s like those burger-shaped telephones we all wanted in our rooms as teenagers (I never got one. Did you?)

4. Beyond burgers

Take a look through Fat & Furious Burger, a bizarre website featuring totally over-the-top photographs of insanely decadent (and somewhat weird) burgers. Then you will look up and think “Wait, where did those three hours just go?”

5. Chocolate terrariums

I’ve saved the best for last. Look at these. Just look at them! Beautiful works of art, and deliciously tasty too. I would SO love to have one of these served up to me at the end of a meal. Apparently they’re actually pretty easy to make, so maybe I’ll try them out one day. The tutorial is on The Design Files if you want to have a go.

My parents were visiting on the weekend and my father took his camera with him on a walk through our neighbourhood while the sky was heavy with the promise of rain. I love that the subjects of these photographs are so familiar to me – I walk these streets every day! – yet they feel slightly foreign. It’s rather pleasantly unsettling.

Note from my Dad: “The two guys with the skateboard called out to me to take a shot of them and just at that moment one of them came off the board.”

ps. If you want to see some more of my dad’s photography, look here.

How it works is that you and I will be able to submit photographs we’ve taken that represent something we’re grateful for. Rain over thirsty grass. A kiss from a baby. Freshly-picked strawberries, still warm from the sun. Then Hailey Bartholomew (of 365 Grateful) will select her favourite photographs, print them out as giant polariods, and post them up all over town to inspire everyone else to stop and think about the little things that make them happy. Lovely, oui?

Hailey has launched a Pozible campaign to fund this project, and she could sure do with your support to help make it happen. Plus, there are some rather nice rewards on offer for everyone that makes a donation (even a little one). You can learn all about The Little Things (and help out if you have the motivation and means) here.

{Photo is from Hailey’s Pozible page. First seen via Meet Me At Mikes}

1. Leafy dress-ups

Azuma Makoto frequently dreams about a mysterious, loitering, human-plant creature. So he created the “Leaf Man” art project, to “elevate the value of flowers and plants.”

Seen via

2. Flip-book art

Remember making little flip-books in school? We would draw stick figures in the corners of our notebooks that, when you flipped through the pages, would walk and run and jump and cartwheel. Kinetic artists Mark Rosen and Wendy Marvel motorised this century-old animation technique in little boxes for gallery exhibitions. But now, they have created a FlipBooKit that you can build yourself, and populate with your own animation! My mind is literally boggling with the possibilities. This one is on my birthday wish-list.

Seen via

3. Subway signs

Have you seen this lovely little happiness-spreading video? Apparently, subway conductors in New York City are required to point at a black and white sign at every stop, to confirm that the train has fully arrived on the platform. So these people stood in front of the signs and held up messages of their own, just to brighten the conductors’ days.

4. Deep south photography

Every time photographer Irene Suchocki releases a new collection, I experience “I want to go there” envy. This group of black-and-whites, called Southern Gothic, beautifully captures the humid and sultry mystery that permeates parts of Southern USA. I want to go (back) there.

5. Lacy newspapers

Canadian artist Myriam Dion cuts incredibly intricate patterns into old copies of newspapers, creating beautiful, lace-like artworks. I can’t even fathom the combination of vision, patience and talent this must require.

Seen via