Modern family portraits

What a funny lot of little people. I love these odd little dolls, which are handmade in Israel from recycled fabric by Timor Cohen, aka Timo Handmade.

One, a pair – or a whole clan – would make a really lovely wedding present, a mother's day gift or something for a new family, however unconventional the set-up. Timor will even personalise them to resemble the recipients if you give her enough notice...

Whole family of dolls, around £108. Adult dolls measure 20cm x 8cm and children are8cm x 5cm.




Twins, £27

Granny/aunt/mother, around £24

Two guys, about £50

Older couple, around £47

Timor lives and makes her dolls at her studio in the port city of Jaffa. She began making the dolls after finding a box full of "a shirt I loved but could no longer wear (or dispose of), a jar of buttons with no apparent relation to one another, a handkerchief with my grandfather’s initials, an embroidered pillow cover, hole included, and so on…"

This formed the ethos for the dollmaking: "My materials are mostly recycled," says Timor, "some comes from other local businesses and designers that pass cloth scraps on to me. Some I buy as fabric scraps. Some comes from friends and family, since there isn't a home without a box of buttons and unused textiles pieces. And I live right next to the Jaffa flea market, which for me is like living near a wishing well.

The 'Family Dolls' she makes are designed as many different individual characters that can be put together as families. Timor continues: "They come in all skin tones, ages and genders, so that people can assemble any family they please. I really like to see how they are being bought for every family model that you can possibly think of. Sometimes people write me asking for very special families, and it’s a delight to see what a variety of shapes and colours there are for love and togetherness."

Timo HandmadeTimo Handmade website

Some beautiful paintings

Buying prints of paintings can be an affordable way to get some original art onto your walls. And I came across these prints of Clare Elsaessa's lovely paintings in her Etsy shop, Tastes Orangey. Coincidentally – or not – I have previously featured the California-based painter's other half, Kai Samuels-Davis and their home, which was the subject of an Etsy tour earlier this year, but was unaware of the link when I saw Clare's work. 

Check it out here, and also Kai's work, which I also really love. Isn't it funny how these two painters and partners have such companionable styles? I wonder if their styles grew together, or found each other fully-formed?

Covered, £28.77, 13" x 19"

Succulent, £9.59, 8" x 10"

Portrait in Yellow, £28.77, 13"x19"

To Sea, £9.59, 8"x10"

Black Lab, £28.77, 13"x19"

The prints come with borders; personally I would frame them without the borders, adding a mount board instead of you want that effect – otherwise it just screams 'print' rather than 'painting' from 100 paces...

Postage (from the US) is just under £9

Postcards from a painter

I came across the artist Oliver Dorman, and his unusual and excellent project, earlier this week – thanks to the creative agency, Margaret London who were talking about him enthusiastically.

With ‘Postcards from a Painter’ Dorman is inviting anyone, from anywhere in the world, to send (or even just describe) a postcard-sized picture – of anything – to him, and he will transform it into a painting on a postcard-sized canvas. 

It is the build-up to his exhibition of the same name, where all the postcards will be shown – after which the people who sent in the images for each of them can take theirs home. Prices to have Dorman do you one of his tiny, bespoke paintings start at £10, rising as the project progresses. 

Below (and above) are some of the ones he's already done...

 

You can watch a video about the project on his website, and for details of where to send your image.

Affordable oil portraits

I've been hankering after a great portrait or few for my home ever since I saw the incredible Seventies Scandi-style Nottingham home of Tim Rundle, below, in Emily Chalmers' Modern Vintage book... 

And now I've just found a purse-gentle way to get my portrait fix...

The Separation

Kai Samuels-Davis is a fine artist based in North California who sells – ta-da – high quality prints of his stunning oil paintings through his Etsy shop, Windy Lane Studio. Each signed print measures 11" x 16" (or 13" x 19" including the border, which personally I'd hide), and comes on museum quality, archival, 100% cotton rag fine art paper, and is reproduced digitally with high quality archival inks. The price? Just £32.50 (or $50), plus £8.08 ($12.50) for UK postage.

Aren't his paintings (above and below) beautiful? And while it's not the same as having the original canvas, it's a pretty top notch second best. Or you can splash out and invest in an original from Kai's studio; prices range from around £130 up to roughly £1,800.

Together Alone

Disappearing Boy

          

Kai also sells a selection of his paintings in sets of 5, 10 or 20 postcards, from around £3.50 to £10.99 plus postage.

I discovered Kai's work through the Etsy blog post about the beautiful home he shares with his wife Clare.

You can see more pictures of it here.