Do you remember the first time you went to the beach? This is three year-old Nicole’s first time ever playing at the beach. I don’t remember my first time in the sand or water, but I can only hope that I had this much fun! On a technical note, this was shot entirely on the GoPro camera.

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You’ve heard of a bird on a wire, right? New art entitled Here To Ear (v.13) 2010, by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, is currently installed at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. The installation is both intensely seductive and aesthetically beautiful, whilst providing a fabulous re-use for thousands of wire coat hangers.

It works like this: right before your eyes, dozens of tiny finches (each a work of art in its own right) alight on coat hangers that hang in pods from the gallery ceiling. The movement of each bird triggers a sound. By capturing the movement of the finches and letting these random notes mingle with the birds’ own singing, Boursier-Mougenot has given us a great privilege, allowing us to briefly become part of their natural world.

Artist and composer Celeste Boursier-Mougenot recently installed electric guitars in a room full of zebra finches to see what kind of music they would make. Turns out these little birds are worthy of a spot on the No Fun Fest bill this year.

Melbourne-based collage artist Kareem Risk’s series of birds are a wonderful example of great colour combined with a fascinating subject and effective typography. Zazzle now features post-card versions of the prints. Get mailing, kids.

If the zombie apocalypse looks anything like Max Kauffman’s artwork, we have nothing to fear because there will be cute zombie birds. Also, zombies in Kauffman’s universe prefer Eskimo kisses to brains.

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This photo from Rhode Island photographer Diana Brennan has made my day. The delicate beauty she captures, which is so tender and still, is a nice thing to pontificate over a rich coffee and a sense of quiet introspection. ‘Brennan shoots mainly with a digital SLR camera, but also enjoys using vintage film cameras and experimenting with different techniques. She believes that the essence of a scene is often captured best by photographing the details. Her work evokes her love of natural New England, her awareness of the environment, and her passion to create’.

Born in Colombia, Marcela Restrepo now calls Sydney home. His Impressive client list includes American Express, Peugeot, Energizer, Bon Appetit Magazine, Australian Financial Review, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, and my mother. He’s just opened up an online shop where you can purchase limited and open edition affordable giclée prints of his drawings. Get in quick because if you purchase before October 30, Sydney time, you’ll get a 10% opening discount with the code ‘open7′. It doesn’t get much better than new art from a great illustrator and a bargain at the same time.

I recently came across the work of French illustrator Tifenn Python. She is also showing at the current Young Blood show at New York’s Opera Gallery. What I love about her work is that it has a certain vibe to it that reminds me of some of the great masters like Lautrec and Shiele, which I’ve been drooling over these past weeks. Her work calls focus to the line, encourages simplicity, and bathes our eyes in colour. It also has a certain sense of comfortable melancholy, which feels familiar to me.

Chris McNally is a life coach who uses drawing as a way to relax. He uses a light touch and Aquarelle color to create predominantly bird and animal illustrations.

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Annie Marie Musselman’s series, Finding Trust, explores a basic, yet rarely witnessed, connection that is possible between humans and wildlife. Through photos taken while working in a wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary, Musselman captures tender moments where animal’s lives are in the hands of humans, which for once, is a good thing.

What made you decide to start shooting at the wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary?
‘I found an injured pigeon on the sidewalk in Seattle six years ago and called 911, and they directed me to Sarvey. Sarvey sent an ambulance that drove 70 miles at 11pm to pick up the pigeon, and I saw in that rescuer something in me — a desire to save the innocent. So I started working there. Also, my mom had just passed away and I was looking to do something that mattered’.

How did you come up with the title for this series, Finding Trust?
‘Finding Trust came from the feeling I get from the animals. I can see in their eyes that when we are helping them, they know it. Even though they are wild and have never had human contact before, they find that trust somewhere in their bones and they release themselves to us. Sometimes an animal will shut its eyes and let us pick it up or do a wing pin. I can see that the animal has resigned itself to the unknowns in the universe, the part we can’t explain. But something inside them says, “Ok, do what you need to do so I can get the hell out of here and back to flying!” It’s a beautiful thing’.

You shot a lot of close-up photographs of the animals. How did they respond to the camera?
‘Usually the animals are afraid when I’m close, sometimes not, but I know that the end result will be that the world can see their beauty. I want people to see what I see in them, so that’s what I strive for every time I’m at Sarvey. I want to show their freedom, playfulness, gentle natures, and all of the qualities I feel that humans embody, something many of us have lost. I want so badly for humans to be kinder to animals in all aspects of our lives, and I feel that the more their beauty is exposed, the more people will see something like them inside their selves. Many times I will sit with an animal and shoot for a while. Usually after about 10 to 20 minutes they start to relax and realize I’m not a threat. No petting or touching is involved unless it’s an unreleasable animal’.

What was the most remarkable thing that happened during your documentation of the wildlife sanctuary?
‘That’s a hard one, because there are so many incredible things. Some of them are secrets to the center that I’m not allowed to tell, but one that I can tell is about a crow who came to the center with two broken feet. Sue, the director of Sarvey does everything she can to save an animal’s life, and she wanted this crow to live. We mended its feet so it could walk again, but it still couldn’t fly. During this period the crow became a friend to many people at the center and was allowed to hop around inside during the day, eating whatever she wanted. I had always heard that Corvids were the smartest birds and so I started to talk to her and she would let me scratch her neck and squalk at me until I came over and petted her. One day I was on the ground photographing and I felt this pecking at my belt that had beads all over it, she was bugging me to give her attention so I turned around and started giving her a neck rub, before I knew it she was fast asleep and had fallen into a coma state. I couldn’t wake her up, she just sat their totally satiated in pleasure from her back rub, her body limp and her head bent over, beak touching the ground. She had become my true friend. Obviously this bird is unreleasable since she cannot fly and will become an education bird. She is now joined by another crow friend with a similar problem. Their names are Hoppy and Jeckyl’.

Where are you currently finding inspiration?
‘I’m really into Saul Leiter at the moment, and I have tons of Odilon Redon on my walls. I just bought a book by Joseph Cornell, and I love his little boxes with all the birds. He was so in love with them. Sometimes I’ll bring my books to photo shoots for inspiration, such as Nan Goldin, William Eggleston’s book, Los Alamos, and always Brassai. This spring, I saw an incredible spread in W magazine by Philip Lorca DiCorcia on the Middle East which I have taped up around my office. I also really love The Fader magazine. So much great photography’.

Where has your work been seen?
‘Finding Trust was featured in American Photography 22 juried by Kathy Ryan, and will appear this month in PDN. I have shot for National Geographic Adventure, Outside, The New York Times, Elle, and others. I have a show in New York next spring at the Alice Austin House’.

A Chicken Growing Up! is a great blog on which science illustrator Mieke Roth posts one ink drawing a week of a chicken as it matures.

Anything goes in New York, even a white peacock in the middle of Manhattan. Yes, a white peacock! Who says the Upper West side is ‘upstate?’ Come visit one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in New York, which host the famous Cathedral of St. John The Divine (112th St. and Amsterdam Avenue). When you’re there, make sure to check out Keith Herring’s alter as well, and then take a stroll through the garden next to the cathedral. If you’re lucky, you can see him dancing with feathers open, within a foot from where you are standing.

Introduction to Fantastic Girls, Future Landscapes & The Most Beautiful Birds Ever Seen is an accordion styled book by illustrator Gary Fernandez. Of the self-published book, he says, ‘there are 500 copies printed in Old Mill 250 grams paper. The paper gives the opposite texture to the illustrations. So if the illustrations are bright and glossy, the paper has the opposite properties and the result looks very strange, fine and elegant. In the beginning, the idea was just to explore new approaches, to review elements and concepts from my sketch books, and to look for new and more complex and detailed shapes and textures. The outcome is a reinvented own surrealistic universe full of strange birds, girls and dreamscapes’.

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Talented young Australian illustrator Bindi Booth recently designed these postcards for Lost At E Minor which are playful, fun, and, I believe, wonderfully engaging dinner company: aw, shucks! Those of you going to Semi-Permanent Perth may just find one in your showbag.