Thanks to all Bold Souls who entered my Mothers Day Giveaway 2012. I loved hearing from you x o x o. The winner, Beth T, chose a “The Rug – Blue Cat” Digital Fine Art Print (seen below) to adorn her cat room. I adore that she has a cat room, can you imagine the permeating atmosphere of contentment? *Sigh*

Beth emailed that it has arrived safely. Hoorah for “Pack and Track”!

One last Mothers Day opportunity to win of one of my prints still exists (obviously you can go here and boldly buy them too!): if you spend $100+ at bodywise underwear (for women who are comfortable with their bodies) before May 13th you go in their Mothers Day draw to win some lovely comfy underwear and one of my prints. Go forth and acquire comfy, underwire free, undergarments – worth it with or without a bonus art print!
If you are here ‘cos you clicked through from bodywise… Hellloooooooo! Welcome! I’d love if you joined our joyful & bold, colourful & curious wanderings :)

By the way, it’s here: Happy Mothers Day! x o

[Added later: Hello gorgeouses who've clicked through from Liv Lane's Bliss List Link Party! This celebration list is my party plate :) ]

These gorgeous magenta ‘pompom’ flowers from the Farmers Market lasted so well that I was able to make some drawings and paintings of them in the middle of the week. Hoorah! Oh gosh, I love being right there, applying colour to paper – delicious! :)

The artwork emanating from this very Pom Pom Posy is now complete, and will be in the next eNewsletter! Sign up to my Bold Art eNews if you want to get first wind of this and other ripe juicy one-of-a-kind and limited edition artwork. Also included in the inbox communiques: work in progress pictures, and behind the scenes sneak peeks that don’t get shown here.

You know I love to ride a bike in my own non-lycra focussed way? Here’s a cool article I just read, with a similar practical, enjoy-the-ride flavour. Specially note Number 7; though I’m not a big wearer of high heeled shoes, I love that the author appreciates cyclists wearing their “usual outfits” :) Specially note all ten points, really!

I am so glad and grateful that Orange Cat likes being at the vet. It’s a bit much for him on the (short) drive, but once he’s there he’s as happy as Larry. While the vet was listening through a pet stethoscope to his catty chest he was purring so much that she said it was “… really noisy in there”. (He was at the vet due to a scratch-getting-worse after a fight, and is now healed nicely.)
Here he is being relaxed on a quilt for a change (instead of at the vet or in a cardboard box):


Oops, now I’ve remembered again, I’d like to mention: Bold Souls who are signed up for my Bold Art eNewsletter who type in their birthdate? They get a birthday email. I started doing the birthday emails this January, and have unexpectedly received sweet replies from Bold Souls who’ve had their birthday already this year. Let us mark What Bold Souls say Friday (for a change) with a birthday email reply:

“Reading my fabulous email from you Meg! and also shakin’ my groove thing along to the fantastic play list!!? Such a wonderful way to continue through the day, Thank you so much ^_^”
- from a Bold Soul eNewsletter subscriber, upon receiving her Birthday email

Thank you, Lovely, for letting me know you enjoyed it!

Let’s get a little random, now, with a cool fact that made my day last Thursday. I was researching well known oboe players (more about why I’m doing that in the fullness of time) and got quite a kick out of discovering: John De Lancie, the oboist, is the father of John De Lancie, the actor, (who played Q in lots of Star Trek episodes one of which was on only last week, and many other cool roles including one on StarGate) and he‘s the father of John De Lancie (who in one Star Trek episode played son of Q!). Ah, connections, and finding out synchronous things with synchronicity, lines up the particles and puts a smile on your face, doesn’t it?

And let’s wind up this longish post with a morsel of sweet, sweet techy joy: I spent last Saturday afternoon updating my website and adding fun things to it. ‘Twas mostly behind the scenes, but does include a smart-looking new comment system which should be visible below :) I’ve been planning this for weeks and am calmly excited that the additions went so smoothly (touch wood). I’d love you to use the sweet new comments section to chat about your week – maybe about small and/or large things you are pleased you noticed.

I’m always glad to see you, dearest Bold Soul, in the comments section, on Facebook, and on the eNewsletter list !

Have a tangy, sweet, home-grown week!
Lots of love,
Meg x o

^^ That is the artwork from one of my free bookmarks. ^^ Download yourself a copy if you haven’t yet; it’s a nice reminder when you tuck it inside your book, just before resting your head for sleep!

I’ve been wanting and trying to pin down a Word of the Year for 2012. I so enjoyed having the word “Blossom” last year or the year before. However, a word has not fallen into place for me – yet. I’ve been fussing and tussling and tangling with it like it’s a wordy octopus and I’m a blade wielding, lightly leaping pirate (completely calmly and zen-ly, of course).

I have the boots already!

Seriously though, this is quite a personal process that I’m sharing here, so please be sympathetic if you leave a comment (and I’d love it if you did).

Here’s how it’s been playing out, so far:

I guess there are no Official Life Rules of Having a Word of the Year, right?

Can I have a phrase? Yes, I believe I can.

I am adopting “I Am Enough” for such time that feels right!

Maybe the Word of my year is Enough. Oh. Wow.

Writing this reminds me how many times in my life and lately I’ve been attracted by the concept of “Enough”. Have you watched the Brene Brown TED talk on vulnerability? I recommend its solid goodness, it’s worth making 20 minutes to watch.

I felt very strongly when the kids were younger, that I wanted to make sure they knew the idea of “enough”. I would ask, “More? Or is that enough?”

When I was learning to teach, one of my favourite teachers would say to a child being ‘naughty’: “That’s Enough!” I liked what it meant: it was clear the behaviour had to stop, but the child was not ‘wrong’.

Experimentation:

I am enough.

I have enough.

There is enough.

I’ve had enough! *foot stomping*

So what’s going to happen? Ideally I would boldly go (hum the theme with me) to a world and reality where I feel like I Am Enough; I think I’m going to like it there.

There’s Gratitude.

Not a lack of striving, but a knowing that what you need to create you can, and are indeed ‘made’ to create – created to create! It’s very doable. “Enough” brings Confidence (one of the hot contenders for Word of the Year as I pondered it late last year. Haha, ’til I lost my courage!) This puzzle is maybe fitting together… or not?

I am enough. You are enough. Haha, together we are more than enough! :D

Hey, if we are Enough, I believe we give ourselves Permission To Shine! Love this song, it’s so fortifying and lifting! If the embed doesn’t work here’s a link :)

Other considerations:

I have a sense this year will have an increase in the amount of music and bicycle riding in it. Sounds random, I guess, but I’m sure those are positive tendencies!

Now that I am so much weller, perhaps the learning and efforts from whilst my thyroid was struggling, can be put into practice. That deterioration really changed my ability to cope with my days. The way I could think. The amount I could do. The excessive levels of muddle and brain cloud, probably depression and certainly frustration. Have you had thyroid troubles, ever, bold soul?
Now that I am out of it I can see how much it impacted me. And how much it sucked. Thankfully, I guess I didn’t fully realise at the time just how much I was struggling. I’m SO grateful to be out of it, finding energy, clarity of thought, stamina and confidence I had not known for I’m not sure how long. (Haha, Life: what’s my next challenge?)

I’m going to say, confidently, that Confidence is my word of the year, with a side of extra bicycle-riding and music. Lovely, I like that.

That fits really well. As we have been rearranging things in the big declutter (still in progress) the piano is much more accessible and I’ve been tinkering around on it. Also, I bought my son an acoustic guitar which he’s tinkering on. My hands seem to stretch well enough for piano but find it difficult to wrap around the guitar neck and press the strings. However, I’ve digressed.

In confident conclusion:

Confidence. I’m trying it on. In fact, even if it doesn’t turn out to be the spinal, driving essence of my year (haha, or the rest of it at least) I’m confident that another word or phrase will make itself apparent!

And that makes me feel boldly, shiningly enough. Hummm :)

Sweet everythings to you, Bold Soul de la Lovely;
Love Meg x o

I like the idea of a gratitude post, or a gratitude jog or just being grateful for the little things that make us smile during the week. So, I’m linking once more with Liv Lane’s Bliss List Link Party :) I’m grateful for the prompt to notice things I am grateful for!

Things I have been warmed by this week:

1. My new beautiful rainbow yak scarf (see above). Being wrapped in non-itchy, warm rainbow is just The Best Thing! After a few days, I’ve noticed: it ‘goes’ with everything! It’s from Daisy Mabel, she has other natural fibre hippie and home wears too! I love how if we do our own bit to make things better, that gradually we make things better. Good on you, Mel, you’re an inspiration!
2. Still being able to go barefoot somedays
3. The stripey rug above ^^. Hoorah! More stripes! It’s mostly wool (sheep I expect, this time, not yak), so it will be a warming presence with both its gorgeous colours and its woolliness! (This is a bit of a sneak peek at one of the new things to warm our ‘getting decluttered’ space – a discarding and rearranging process that’s still in progress. The progress is starting to be visible, which is quite delightful and also really changes the energy. I think that’s partly why it has to be done incrementally, so one can get used to it in stages.)

Bold Soul, let me know in the comments what you’re grateful for this week, or of any interactions with stripey things that have cheered you!

Have a lovely weekend, bold soul :) See you soon,
Love Meg x o

Live Bold List 26: A Bold Little List of Bliss

1. My 18-year-old son told me a story: If you are instructed to look around the room for blue items so you can remember them when you close your eyes, but instead once your eyes are shut you’re asked to name red things, it will be somewhat difficult as you were seeking and memorising blue things. It doesn’t mean there were no red things in the room, you just weren’t looking for them. He told me that what you look for is what you will see. Likewise, if we look for joy and positives that is what we’ll see and experience. So pleased to know he gets that concept! By the way, I did not tell him that story. *Big smile – happy mum moment *
2. Loving my happy mojo postcard messages that I look at every day: The three messages are “I’m Possible – one little apostrophe separates Impossible from I’m Possible”, Revel without a Cause and “This now is it. This. Your deepest need and desire is satisfied by the moment’s energy here in your hand.” from Rumi. The very cool artwork on all three is from Angi and Silas. ‘Scuse all my cables!
3. I’m learning plenty about myself while decluttering throwing old crap out! I’m uncovering New Me by discarding Old Me’s old course notes and other papers. They’re from courses she (I) gained a lot from, and those learnings have now become a part of Current Me’s skill pallette. The dusty folders full of papers, though, are going! How freeing :)
4. Shredding party! (see 3) Bye bye old bank statements and long outdated paperwork! Need to go and tip another batch into the Recycling.
5. Maybe, just maybe I have at last pinpointed a Word of the year! Or a phrase, or a song! …Or possibly one of each :P The more I try to pin it down though, the more it seems to want to evolve into something else. That needs its own blog post!

Like in that story from #1, I’m going to keep making an effort to look for the red (joyful) things. Will you share a little joyful moment of your week in the comments section below, Bold Soul?

Have a beautiful week,
Love Meg x o

I’m so pleased to ‘see’ you – you delightful shining thing!
I’m currently holding a Mothers’ Day Giveaway – go here to read the details and join in if you feel to; it finishes on the 22nd. Be “in-loved” by the gorgeous comments, so far! I am!I am full of amazement for mothers. When I see mothers of children-younger-than-mine I am so touched by their patience, their endless explanations, their amazing care and ready hugs. My memories are already starting to fade of mothering my two boys from belly to babe, toddlers to school boys to independant young men. Might I suggest that Bold Souls with small children get or allocate a book to write down the crazy things they say and do. While you’re in the thick of it you think you’ll never forget. So much happens though, some of it can disappear. Luckily photos fill in some of the gaps :P

The above painting (fear not, we shall boomerang back to talk about Mums again) is called Sacred Cow. Hehe, my dad sometimes calls it Holy Cow! It began as a mini still life. I just liked the look of a small plastic toy farm cow lying around (the boys were small) and had those great patterned fabrics just begging me to put them together in a crazy cacophony of colour (patterned fabrics communicate with me like that).

The painting seems to mean different things to different people. It’s been fascinating to hear the variety of comments people make when they see it. Many Bold Souls like the unexpected juxtaposition of the cow and the set up that looks like a bed – it was much tinier of course.

I was heartwarmed by this meaning seen in it, a Bold Soul at a market saying it brought to mind this poem:

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
- William Butler Yeats

One person said that it reminded her of breastfeeding – “… a cow on a bed”! That is why I thought it was an appropriate image to re-introduce today.

Some say the ability to mother is biological. I was a very un-intuitive biological mother myself. I actually couldn’t recognise my own childrens’ cries, and they say all mothers can. Nope! Oops :P But I figured out how to parent well enough.

Anyhow. Go, enter the giveaway. The entries (comments) so far have been touching and I am so grateful to hear your stories. I dearly want to write back. I will at the end (the 22nd) but want to leave the comments section without my interjections until then, so I can do the random number thing with minimum complication. Get it? Mini-MUM! Haha, just saw that!

Tread softly, bold souls. And look after your own dreams, let them be rich and embellished and wonderful and completely You Specific.

See you soon.
Much love,
Meg x o

Hello beloved petals!

Hope you’ve had a lovely fortnight! I didn’t post last week as I was away camping – fun! More about that later, perhaps ;)

My big boys are all but gone – here’s a photo I took of our feet shortly before my oldest son left for Sydney (last year):

There are still plenty of situations when nurturing and common sense are just what’s needed! The cats, the neighbours’ children, friends’ children, one’s own inner child!

Therefore, as Mothers Day is approaching (the 13th May for Australia and the US, and the 18th in the UK if I’ve googled correctly) I want to do a “Mother Celebrating” Giveaway, making sure to allow enough time before Mothers Day to post the goodies out (anywhere in the world), so… let’s Do It Now!

The Tangerine Meg 2012 Mothers’ Day Giveaway :)

I would love to celebrate mothers at the same time as making some more new Bold Soul friends and sharing my bold art! To be in the running to get a Tangerine Meg Digital Fine Art Print and greeting card, here are the 2 ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment under THIS POST, telling 1) a little about how your Mother is a bold soul, or 2) how motherhood makes you a bold soul, or 3) about a Mother figure you admire and in what way they are a bold soul, OR
2. You can ‘share’ this on Facebook (or Twitter) and in your comment tell me where you shared it and how many new bold souls that would have reached.

You can do both, and get 2 chances to win!
The winner will receive a Tangerine Meg Digital Fine Art Print of their choice + a greeting card to go with it, from my Buy Bold Art page. You can use it for a Mothers Day gift, another day gift – or frame it and keep it for yourself!
If you have won something from me before you are ineligible to win – that wouldn’t be fair – but know that I love you heaps and you can certainly join in the fun with your comment (if I draw your number, then I will re-draw).

The winner will be chosen from the comments on THIS POST by a random number generator – wooh, tech-magic! Entries close on April 22nd, to allow time for (potentially) overseas mailing. I will email the winner to get their postal address, and to find out which picture they would like to receive.

Go to it, darlings: share, celebrate, get ready to thank your mum (or mother figure). I can’t wait to hear all your gorgeous stories and sharing.

Talk soon,
Much love,
Meg x o

Hope this finds you with your beautiful heart full of sunshine!

In this post I want to record my intentions for 2012, despite the fact that not only is it March, but my plans have already changed twice this year! I may have been overthinking this. No more. The ‘overthought verbosity’ is now deleted to make way for simplicity and accuracy.

Here I am beginning again. Hello! This year, I want to:

1. have fun with you, bold soul,
2. connect with more bold souls, and
3. make bold art.

Now, that sounds much more do-able than the first draft! Here are the specific things I would like to do this year in this blog/site/biz:

1. Giveaways! They’re such fun! Remember the 7 Days of Giveaways bookmark one, the Tshirt one and the other Mothers Day one? The 2012 Mother’s Day Giveaway is coming very soon! A mother is often the very embodiment of a Bold Soul, dontcha think?
2. If you’ve been piecing the story together from my meanderings, you’ll know that I was fully intending to introduce Custom Cat portraits this year, as an always available service. Right now, I feel strongly to not offer them that way. I’m very busy, and when I offer Custom Cats they will be done with care, more care, and time to spare. As I prepare this post, I am wondering if it might work beautifully offering Custom Cats for specific periods, blocks when I know I will have plenty of time. If you want to know when I am offering a limited number of Custom Cats portraits, please join my mailing list! The gorgeous mailing list people will be alerted first!
3. Keep in touch by posting everyday on Facebook and posting blog posts on Tuesdays. I promise that I will do my best! Haha, rather ironic that this one is going to be posted on a Wednesday! Oh well!
4. I so want to do Bold Interviews! Interviews, sometimes of people who aren’t even on the web, fancy that! There are stories I want to record, and share. Need to figure out a few logistics first… and make time!
5. I’m considering audio content in posts? And why not combine #5 with #4? …Audio interviews! Fun!
   I find I do have the technology to make audios. What kind of content would you like to hear from me? Crazy poems? Live Bold Lists, read aloud? Bold stories? Bold Interviews? Rambly, random chats? Painting and lino print commentaries?
   Cats meowing boldly? Haha!

And two for the future:

1. A few lovely bold souls have suggested they’d like me to teach bold art. You’d barely believe how much I think about how to make that work!
2. Bold art fabric, and items made therefrom! Spoonflower makes custom cloth in lengths. I envisage Tangerine Meg Bold Art scarves and happy pants and more! How exciting does that sound? Eep!

Those 2 major things will be percolating in my bold brain, but I suspect with the amount of busy I am with other work, that they may not come to fruition this year. Hey, back-brain percolating is a great precursor for getting interesting things done :)

Though it was quite a process, It’s been really great writing this because I actually had to back up a few steps and figure out what I really want to do, to put where I’m coming from into words!

Let me know if you think of other things that would be fun to do together, centred around bold life, bold souls and bold art!

Lots of love to you for a bright and joyous week,
Meg x o :)

Introducing a new painting, in the form of a stripey rainbow cat!

I call him Stripey Rainbow Cat. Surprise!
What do you think of him?

Coming up soon: Mothers Day giveaway :) And possibly, a What to Expect from Tangerine Meg in 2012 post!

Have a stripey, glowy, rainbow-filled week,
Love Meg x o

I have been dearly wanting to do an <insert age of writer here> Things You Might Not Know About Me list blog post. For two years it’s proved a psychological hurdle. Now, I’m thinking: if I can break it down into blog-sized pieces, maybe it’s doable! I will be turning (4 x 12) this year, so I undertake to make 4 posts with 12 things each in them. By the time my birthday comes around in about 8 months, there will be the right number altogether. Sound like a plan?

Voila the first dozen.

Live Bold List 25: A Dozen Things You Might Not Know About Me

1. Much as I am horrified by what we are doing to the earth and each other, I feel sincerely lucky to be living in this age. I love my computer and all the connection, creativity and commerce it allows, and running water and piped power. I am very grateful for these and other modern wonders.
2. I am courageous around moths and cockroaches. Less so with spiders. I’ve grown out of my reaction to bee stings.
3. A yoga instruction that makes me laugh is: “Let go of your face”. I adore yoga and agree that ‘face letting go’ (in both meanings I can think of) is a good idea.
4. I prefer strawberries at room temperature – not cold from the fridge. This might partially be a tooth sensitivity issue.
5. I can often smell water when it’s boiling. I can definitely smell the difference between filtered and unfiltered water. If you’ve experienced Adelaide water, this will make a lot of sense!
6. When I first came across Photoshop I didn’t trust it! This is perhaps unusual for a graphic design trained person. I think it was mainly because I didn’t understand it. I didn’t ‘get’ resolution, and I certainly didn’t trust the ‘marching ants selection line’. I have come to understand it better now, and it’s come to be an essential tool. And yes I “trust” it.
7. I am a Mac person married to a PC person. For many practical purposes this difference is more apparent than our age or upbringing differences.
8. Finding out where the line symbol “|” comes from was like finding out where babies come from. It’s there on the keyboard above the ‘back slash’, did you know? Also the blue scroll bar at the side of text too long for it’s box.
9. I think it’s important that everyone reads “Passage to Power” by Leslie Kenton (also available for Kindle). Ostensibly about menopuase, it actually good information for people, who have bodies, who live in the world! Bio-identical progesterone cream is one of the things that has made a huge difference for me.
10. I am an enthusiastic non-cleaner. I plan to employ someone to help us out with that this year!
11. I have elfy slippers. Actually if you’ve been here a while you might know that one :)
12. I have non pierced ears, and every intention to keep them that way. I have far too many earrings, all with clip and screw-on attachments already! I like the idea of an ear cuff. Hehe! – also non-pierced!

This has been an interesting exercise – I’m very glad to be breaking it down into 4 installments! Persist and thouest will get there eventually! If you’ve blogged a list such as this, I’d love if you’d link to it in the comments!

If you want to get some back story behind the eggs with drawings photo above – and other “Making Of”, behind the scenes, bold soul newsletter only sneak peeks – sign up for my eNewsletter :)

Have a lovely week, dear bold soul,
Love Meg x o

In the last month or so, I’ve been helping with costumes for the local Fringe Opening Parade!

Ta-daaa! This is where the promised penguins and giraffes enter the scene :)

Stripey socks legs? Check! :D

This is how the giraffes were set up: there are stilt-walkers on ‘leg’ (usual) stilts + specially made arm stilts for the front legs. We built a wire and paper mache head, which was carried via a structure over the shoulders, and we attached the cape body to that. The back legs are wearing ‘stilt pants’! It was lots of hard work, but they ended up looking cool, dontcha think?

No comfortable task working those costumes while performing characters – quite a special set of skills! The stilt performers really brought Spot and Patch to life :)

Here are our both of our intrepid penguins:

So wonderful the way the performers gave the cloth, socks and flippers so much personality!
The stripey socks? They were on loan from my personal collection!

I loved the Big Hairstyles that were done for our other stilt performers at Clip Joint Education Salon. Check them out Adelaide Bold Souls, they’re very professional – and fun to work with! For the parade they did punk styles, swirly curls, braiding, spray-on colour and lots and lots of crimping!

There were dozens and dozens of other floats and performers. As the parade went along the heat of the day eased as the sun went down. From my vantage point I could see the fireworks. Fun!

Have you been part of a big community event before? Did you enjoy yourself? Tell us about it in the comments section below :) We’d love to hear.

Besides costume making, much other productive work has been happening behind the scenes here already this year – and when I say ‘behind the scenes’ I mean structural, not obvious, in fact never-to-be-seen webby foundation improvements! At least I can finally show you the part which is showable – you can check out my new shopping cart (get it? Check out! Haha!)! It’s taken quite a bit of time, and included uploading my artworks again!

I hope you are travelling greenly, olivey happy peaceful, earth aware green.
Loads of love,
Meg x o