Tome: Bushland and Seashore by Robin Hill

Cover: photography by Eclectic Kate

Upon cleaning out my grandparents’ home, I have stumbled across the most beautiful book. It’s called Bushland And Seashore and it’s written and illustrated by artist and naturalist Robin Hill.

While I felt like I knew every book in that house, I don’t ever remember this one. However the illustrations are just so beautiful, I keep flicking through it, over and over again.

Bushland and Seashore was first published in 1962 and depicts native Australian flora and fauna in their natural habitat. Painted in watercolours, unlike other naturalist painters, Hill is able to bring the animals to life on the page. From the snake ready to strike to the hawk circling it’s prey, the images are evocative and moving. It became an award-winning book, but it is unfortunately no longer in print. I did find a secondhand copy on Amazon.

Illustration by Robin Hill: photography by Eclectic Kate

The other thing I love about this find is that my grandparents gave this book to my uncle Harvey for Christmas in 1963. Proof that books make great presents.

Inscription: photography by Eclectic Kate

Funny how a book can outlive a person.

For more information on the incredible Robin Hill and to order prints online, please visit his website here

More images from Bushland and Seashore below, sourced from Robin Hills’ website.

Stay Creative Peeps

I apologise for the lack of posts… I’ve been away on holidays! Yay!

With no WIFI… Boo!

Am back now, catching up on work and came across this gem…

Courtesy of Faces of Design

Obsessing… make me up macaron

I can’t get this Vogue Japan editorial out of my head.

When I go to sleep at night, it plays on my mind.

I love the use of macaron colours – banana, liquorice, musk – delicious!

I often get people’s names, foreign words and great editorials stuck on loop in my brain for weeks… then they get pushed out and overridden by a new idea, word or image.

Japanese Vogue : February 2012 : Photographer Liz Collins

View full Candy Kisses editorial on Models.com

Last year I had the name ‘Zooey Deschanel’ running circles in my mind for at least half the year and when I’m learning a language it will be whole lists of vocab… not sure what this says about me!

The Details: Friday Finds

I always love a bit of a 70’s vibe and when I pulled together some things I’m loving this week, I realised they all had a feel that represents the seven-oh.

Statement tees, checked shirts, topstitched heels finished off with a love heart necklace…

Top to bottom:

LA Dodgers tee from New York, Van Ryke necklace available at Vaia Beauty

Zara checked blouse, Tiffany & Co love heart locket

70’s David Jones vintage heels

Throw Away Chic: Council Clean-Out Headboard

Finished Headboard. Photography by Eclectic Kate

I’ve been searching for the perfect headboard for quite a while now and had been scouring Ebay for an upholstered version. I found this wicker one in a council clean out and it’s a project that cost me less than $30 to complete.

When we picked up the headboard it was in OK condition, the varnish had mostly worn off and it looked a little tired.

Found Headboard. Photography by Eclectic Kate

As I already had cane side tables in my bedroom I didn’t want it to be too matchy matchy so I decided to paint it out in white. I gave it a quick sand first and then used White Knight spray paint in gloss white. I didn’t use a primer so I would get a grey-ish, faintly mottled undertone.

It took three cans of paint to complete two coats and painting the cross-hatching was the most difficult part. I found if you paint in one direction on one side and the alternate direction on the other side you achieve a good finish.

Spray paint dries in 10-15 minutes so this is really a project you can complete in an afternoon.

Headboard half painted. Photography by Eclectic Kate

I’ve found a lot of great pieces during council clean out, here are my tips for optimising finds:

– Contact local councils for clean out days, they happen twice a year in most areas.

– The best areas are more affluent suburbs or suburbs going through rejuvenation i.e. older population leaving and newer one coming in

– make friends with someone who owns a ute

– speak to the owners of the furniture if possible. They may have more like it, or at least a story to tell. It’s also always nice if you ask if you can take something

– use gloves and watch for spiders, splinters and nails

– Look for items such as kids backyard toys, they’re often found in great condition, if a little sun-faded

– garden pots and picture frames are other good finds.

– look for sound structure and interesting shaped furniture. The more damage, the more cost it will to repair it. Sanding and painting is easy to do, reupholstering is a little harder as is fixing broken arms and legs

– Only pick up things you can use or have a place for and if the piece doesn’t work, put it out on your foot path for someone else to collect.

Cushion me Kate

Anglomania cushion

It’s that other Kate’s birthday today. I like how she’s still referred to as ‘Kate Middleton’ rather than her official title, Princess Catherine.

Much more modern.

In celebration of Kate’s 30th, I’d thought I’d share the royal wedding cushion I made while watching THE wedding last year.

This is a super easy project, I simply sewed a commerative tea towel onto an existing european pillow case.

It sits with a random assortment of cushions in my kids play area and is a bit of a talking point when people come over.

I think Anglomania works best served with a dose of humour.

Strawberry Skin

This time of year, strawberries are in abundance. They’re cheap and if you grow your own, they should be sprouting fruit about now.

I created a strawberry facial scrub a few years ago because they seemed like a nice thing to put on your skin and it’s a great way to use up the berries that may be a bit overripe.

The acidity of the berries and their little seeds seem to polish your skin leaving it with a dewy glow. the scrub also leaves you with a faint strawberry scent… great preparation for date night!

You can make the scrub in advance, however I find it provides the best results if you make it fresh each time.

Instructions after the jump…

Strawberry skin polish. Photography by Eclectic Kate

Tool Kit:

1 strawberry makes enough scrub for you face, use 4 if you’d like to use over your whole body.

½ teaspoon of olive oil

Pinch of rock salt

Blender

Method:

1. Throw strawberries, olive oil and salt into the blender and whizz it up until well blended
2. Transfer blended mix into a small bowl and over a sink rub mix into your skin being careful not to get it into your eyes
3. Leave on for 5 minutes and then wash off
4. Follow with a rich moisturiser such as rose hip oil
5. Ensure you wash your sink thoroughly and wash any towels immediately otherwise the strawberry may stain.

Tip: Blended strawberry is also a good teeth whitener. Blend strawberry on it’s own and brush it onto your teeth. Rinse thoroughly

Terra Terra Terrarium

Terrariums are having a moment.

I have very fond memories of my Nanna making them in the 80’s. She loved anything oriental, so along with bonsai’s, we’d make miniature Chinese gardens in these balloon shaped glass jars.

Driftwood would be collected as logs and we’d cover the soil in moss for grass.

Recently we’ve been cleaning out my grandparent’s home as they’ve now both passed on.

One of the many treasures I found was two unused terrarium jars, so I set about making a set of terrariums of my own.

Everything I know about terrariums I learned from The Terrarium Man website here.

Instructions after the jump…

One of my terrariums. Photography by Eclectic Kate

Instructions:

Tool Kit:

Large open jar or vase (available at thrift stores, Etsy, Ebay or $2 stores)

Stones, river pebbles or fish rocks (purchased at Bunnings)

Spagnum moss (purchased at Bunnings)

Potting mix

Plants (I used succulents as they don’t need a lot of water)

Terrarium essentials

Method:

1. Ensure the jar is clean and free of dust and finger marks

2. Layer stones, sphagnum moss, potting mix in that order

3. Play around with arrangement of plants before planting. Remember that terrariums are often viewed from all sides and the top, so you want to consider what it looks like from each of these angles. Place plants in soil once arrangement has been finalised

4. Give plants a water.

Tips:

Think about where you are going to place your terrarium before you create it. They don’t like to be in direct sunlight.

Feel the soil every few days and if it feels dry, give plants a little water. I use a water bottle with a drip nozzle so I don’t overwater.

Snip off any dead leaves as you see them.

This is a pretty cool project to do with kids and something they could have in their rooms. To add another element of fun for kids, let them choose a carnivirous plant such as a Venus Fly Trap. Small toy dinosaurs, wild animals or fairies can be added as decoration after planting the planting stage.

For more inspiration check out this beautiful book – The New Terrarium by Tovah Martin and Kindra Clineff on Booktopia. 

Finished Terrariums

Obsessing… Lana Del Ray

As I mentioned earlier, there are a few things I’ve been obsessing over lately.

Singer Lana Del Ray is the other obsession that I feel will not be abated until her LP Born to Die debuts towards end Jan/early Feb.

While I love her vocals… very reminiscent of Nancy Sinatra in These boots are made for walking, I’m quite enamored with her hollywood pin-up hair (something I feel we’ll be seeing more of in 2012), femme fatale stare and gangsta chic accessorising.

Hell, I even love the typography used on her Video Games single artwork.

If you haven’t yet seen the Video Games film clip, you can watch it here

I’m hoping that Lana Del Ray will fill the gaping hole in my music collection that Amy Winehouse left behind…

Fingers crossed.

A Sit Down With… Photographer Michael Mundy

Happy 2012!

Over the last few days I’ve been obsessing over a few things, one of them being a new blog I’ve fallen in love with called An Afternoon With…

An Afternoon With… is the brainchild of New York based photographer, Michael Mundy and his partner Nhi Nguyen, in which Mundy shoots subjects in their spaces amongst their own things. I love seeing how different people organise and decorate their space, it satisfies my inner voyeur.

Readers are given only one line at the end of every post about the subject, allowing each set of images and their ‘things’ to tell the story. It’s a simple, honest yet beautiful portrayal about people. Adding to the blog’s simplicity, all images are lit naturally and appear without retouching.

Michael politely obliged Eclectic Kate with a sit down over New Years, here is what he had to say:

EK: You started in the industry by shooting rock bands, how did you get into interiors?

MM: I  started assisting a photographer (Oberto Gili) who shot interiors. I had never seen anything like it before. I was immediately captivated by how he looked at things. I had never thought about shooting rooms and inanimate objects before. But the way he shot them was like art not just pictures of rooms. That changed my life.

EK: When and why did you start “An Afternoon With… “

MM: An Afternoon With was started in April 2010. I had started a blog just showing things I liked and inspiration etc. Nhi (AAW Co-founder) saw immediately that this was the perfect platform to present images I had been shooting of my friends and acquaintances. She started taking these shoots I had been doing and putting them online. Little by little it started to come together as the project you see now.

EK: How do you choose/find subjects to shoot for the blog? 

MM: We started with friends and asked each one to recommend someone else. This way there is this organic growth built-in which we wouldn’t have otherwise. Along the way we choose people we meet who we feel will expand the project.

EK: If you weren’t photographing interiors and creating blogs and Tumblr’s… what would you be doing?

MM: I’d still be taking pictures it’s what I do. If I didn’t do that maybe Id write more. Pictures were always a quicker means for me than writing though I see them both in the same category.

EK: What’s your New Years resolution?

MM: As always to try to be a little nicer than last year. As far as goals for this year I want to start this portrait series I have in mind. That’s definitely on the forefront.

Michael Mundy’s work can also be found on his other blog, The Refind and via his Tumblr.

All photography in this post appears courtesy of Michael Mundy and An Afternoon With…