A friend gave me this pretty painted bird for Christmas and I thought it was too nice to store away with the rest of the decorations.
Birds, of course, are currently popular decorating motifs and inspired a scene in my favourite tv show at the moment, 'Portlandia' which we're watching thanks to Netflix.
In one episode of the cult comedy, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein go into a vintage shop and start putting birds on everything - until the shop is invaded by a real bird.
Brownstein is quoted as saying: 'I had started noticing that putting a bird atop an otherwise pedestrian or utilitarian object elevated it to art — or that putting a bird on a painting made it an instant signifier for coolness. The bird was basically becoming shorthand for art.'
Walking through the homewares department of a local store this evening, I couldn't help but notice a lot of birds decorating picture frames, towels, prints, etc.