Book crush - The Other Side

"The Other Side" by artist Istvan Banyai is a wordless picture book all about shifting perspectives. It challenges the assumption that we could ever know the full story. We might think we do, but there is always more: more above, more below, more beyond, and more on the other side. I like to leave my copy out on a coffee table for guests to thumb through. It's fun watching their reactions as they turn the pages and, slowly, the realisation dawns that they are looking not at a random collection of clean and bold illustrations but, in fact, at a cleverly-constructed chain of interconnected events that are all occurring simultaneously on the flip side of one another.

It fascinated Madeleine, too, on the weekend. For approximately 30 seconds.

The madness in the moonless night

'Cause I want to be someone, worthy of your conversationThe madness in the moonless night So shake off your leeward side

And everything that I did or did not do In the miniature of my life, has a lineage back to you...

I've been listening to "Leeward Side" by Josh Pyke all weekend. It such a beautiful love song. The leeward side is the protected side of an island, and Josh is telling his love to "shake it off," to step out into the wind and dance.

The song is about taking risks and, as I've been singing it to myself this weekend, I've been thinking about my own risk-averse personality and some ideas I've been hesitating to try. Maybe it's time to shake off my own leeward side. Perhaps I'll find... I wonder what?

What makes you happy?

Take a look at this fabulous street art project about spreading gratitude. It's called "The little things." 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}

Outside the lines

A few years ago my friend Sarah and I took a life-drawing night course. We'd sit in an old high-school room for a couple of hours, chatting and sipping wine and painstakingly sketching versions of our hands that looked like octopus amputees, and sneakers that resembled a child's play-dough experiment. It was a fantastic course. I can't say I picked up much in the way of skills, and stick figures are still my preferred style, but there was something so calming and therapeutic about those two hours a week. I was writing Airmail around this time, and I always found my creative writing came so much easier after I had given my brain this break. For me, art (and I use that term in the loosest, most generic manner because you'd be hard pressed to call anything I make with pencil or paint "art") is just a wonderful way to switch off and take a "brain holiday." I need to do more of it. Do you know what I mean?

When I saw this book Outside the Lines, my first thought was that I should buy it for Madeleine. She is very into crayons right now. But to be truthful, I think I might need to buy it for me. It's a collection of illustrations from more than 100 artists (in genres from fine art to street art to video games and photography) all ready to be coloured in by "anyone who loves creativity and contemporary art, or who simply loves the joy of coloring." And hey, that's me!

Favourite things - unexpected art

Each of these art projects celebrate the unexpected. Enjoy! 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

Kindness craft project - 124 birds

There are only 124 Kakapo birds left in the world. Native to New Zealand, the Kakapo is the world's heaviest, flightless parrot, and it is critically endangered. There are so few birds that every Kakapo has a name. To me, 124 sounds like an almost impossibly-small number. But it is actually a wonderful improvement: in the 1970s, there were only 18 birds.

To celebrate the recovery of the Kakapos from near-extinction, as well as the resilience and unity of the people of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the devastating earthquakes they have suffered, Melbourne-based "guerilla kindness" artist Sayraphim Lothian is planning a unique public art project in March.

"I will travel to Christchurch to install a number of soft sculpture Kakapos around the city. These birds are then left for the people to find and move, hide, remove, adopt or throw away," she says.

The project, called Journey - The Kakapo of Christchurch, is about "recovering communities, helping hands, and of being surprised by joy."

Sayraphim contacted Kakapo Recovery, a conservation group organisation dedicated to saving the Kakapos from extinction, to tell them about her project. "Wouldn't it be great," they said, "if you made 124 of them, one for each Kakapo alive today?"

So that's what she is going to do. Sayraphim will spend the next two months making 124 Kakapos, then leave them for the people of Christchurch to find. "Part participatory art project, part game, part scavenger hunt and part social media check in, Journey invites people to get involved with an art project on a very personal level," she explains.

The two-week art installation will also be supported by free craft workshops on two weekends.

Sayraphim has launched a Pozible project to raise the funds she needs for bird-making materials, flights, accommodation, publicity, and materials for the free craft workshops. If you'd like to take a look or help her out, go here (there are some pretty special rewards for people who donate, too).

ps. If Sayraphim's name sounds familiar, that's because I featured another of her "guerilla kindness" projects in Melbourne here.

Twirl

Every time I see gifs done well, I think of the moving photographs in Harry Potter, and how maybe we're a little bit closer to magic now. I love this spinning, twirling Japanese tumblr site. Actually I'm feeling a little bit motion-sick, but I still love it. (First found via Happiness Is).

Favourite things - life hacks

What ho! Here are five little "life hacks" to take you into the weekend and make 2014 that little bit easier for you. Happy Friday, friends. 1. Your very own in-house / at-home IT help desk

(And nobody will tell you to turn it off and then on again). I came across Tweaky while trying to decipher the technical mumbo-jumbo being fed me by both my spam-filter people and my web-hosting people in relation to getting rid of a spam problem on this blog (93,000+ spammy comments "pending approval," and more every day!). Tweaky is a "no job too big or too small" mob, and fixed my six-month-old problem for me in 24 hours, for just $39. They were so fast, friendly and helpful that I've already used them again since. If you want to give them a try, be sure to use this link to get a $10 discount on your first project, just because you're my friend!

{Photo of tech support dude via tyle_r, licensed under Creative Commons)

2. Odd jobs, on call

Another "no job too small," totally-affordable group is Occasional Butler. Need a couple of pictures hung on your wall? Waiters for your next posh party? Heck, I don't know... someone to clean the old coffee cups, odd socks, McDonald's wrappers and dead moths (this is so embarrassing) out of your car? Occasional Butler is a website linking 'butlers' with 'customers' for either one-off or ongoing work, pretty much whatever you need. You set the job and the budget, and hopeful 'butlers' apply, including their own budget response. All the finances are safely managed through the website (via PayPal if you like). I'm meeting the person who will hopefully become my new house cleaner on Monday.

{Photo of Dick the Butler via Qsimple, licensed under Creative Commons}

3. Stop replying to emails...

Yep, just take the pressure off yourself... and off of others likewise. Read this via Swiss Miss and maybe, just maybe, it will lighten your e-load for 2014.

... 4. But if you can't stop yourself, unroll yourself

I got so excited about discovering Unroll.me recently that I dedicated a whole blog post to them, here. In short, here's what they can do:

* Unsubscribe you from all those email lists you somehow got yourself on and can't seem to shake * Gather up all the emails from lists you do want to stay on but don't want to have cluttering your inbox, by bundling them up into one 'digest' email per day

5. Organise your workspace

I'm not really one for making resolutions at the start of the year (too many disappointments as a child when, by April, I was still no closer to becoming a professional ballerina / never getting in trouble / only eating healthy). But I do like to start the year out fresh, with a good clean-out of my workspace, and a shiny new planner and stationery on my newly decluttered desk. So I loved this list of 7 ways to get organised from the Creative Women's Circle. What are your top tips?

Spring clean your inbox

Have you heard of Unroll.me?* It's a simple (free!) service that instantly unsubscribes you from all those spammy newsletter emails you can't seem to shake. You know the ones? They are super annoying but they want you to jump through hoops to unsubscribe from them. Or you can't remember the password you made up that one time two years ago when you made a one-off purchase and didn't tick the opt-out box...

If you want to, you can also use the service to bundle all the newsletter-style emails you DO want into a once-a-day email. I joined up this weekend. I bunched 20 newsletters into one daily rollup, and managed to unsubscribe from 70 annoying and unwanted newsletters and ads. So refreshing!

*Not a sponsored post. Promise.

The real life Faraway Tree

As the sun sets over Silverlake Drive, Los Angeles, neighbourhood children have a real life Faraway Tree under which to play at nights. Called the Chandelier Tree, it was created by local resident Adam Tenenbaum an artistic gift to the community. Adam has been collecting and restoring chandeliers for the past six years, and piece by piece adding them to this beautiful tree.

A vintage meter underneath the tree is a place for visitors to leave coin donations, if they want to, to help offset the electricity costs of maintaining the tree.

Apparently, children flock to the tree to play there. If I lived nearby I would, too. Wouldn't you? And I'd be keeping a weather eye out for Moon-Face, Mister Watzisname, Silky and the Saucepan Man while I was at it.