Random stripey sock joy

Posted on by April 15, 2015

Dear Bold Hearts,

Permit me to share with you a bold choice I made just minutes ago….

striped socks and golden patterned sandals photo foot selfy

The old don’t-do-it-socks-and-sandals-non-fashion choice. Just warm enough for today. The visual buzz created with the stripey socks is like delicious fruit salad and ice-cream for the eyes, & combined with flowery birthday sandals was too yummy to avoid for the sake of coolness.

Kindness to you,
Meg

Live Bold List 5: Be Great. Be You.

Posted on by February 29, 2012

Hello Dearhearts,

I am married! Hoorah! Here is a photo from the day. Do you like our coloured hair?

 

Now we MoonHoneys are back from Honeymoon! Had a lovely time. ‘Twas tropical and greatly luxurious, and the pace of slow was wonderful.

Now I am afresh, relaxed and keen to use all that formerly-wedding/honeymoon-planning-energy to create, help, be, move, live and love. Here are some of my inspirations for Bold Living:

Live Bold List 5: Be Great, Be You.

  1. This is quite a great way to start: Leo at Zen Habits article “Do Interesting Things”
  2. Exercise! I have become stodgified by indulgent eating and lack of regular exercise. This urgently needs modification! Running, walking, classes. Get back to Circus and Yoga classes as soon as possible to rebuild strength and tone.
  3. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. That is the simple theory, and if you would like more explanation, click on the link there for the whole manifesto by Michael Pollan, who also wrote In Defense of Food on the same theme.
  4. Make space for being glorious, to let our selves shine. I think I may need Goddess Leonie’s de-cluttering course next time it runs! We are working on getting our belongings and space sorted out, maybe even streamlined. After 3 months of engagement & prioritising other things, the house is not zen or flowing or clear at all. In fact much ‘stuff’ needs to be given a new life with friends or charity shops! We are working on it.
  5. Read and try things from this post by Goddess Leonie 10-ways-to-feel-happy-now.
  6. Take our time. Do the important stuff, like visit friends and relatives, make together time and family time, and be there for kids and friends who contributed so much in particular to our wedding day.
  7. Indulge in small amount of happy clothes THAT FIT NOW whilst the restorative eating and exercising practises have their effect.

Yours in an attempt to live consciously,
Meg

The bobbly scarf manifests

Posted on by April 15, 2015

Dear and bold readers,

Today the small tale of a re-re-incarnated scarf, and of how one can learn from wool to work a wonder.

 

scarf_small

After getting a lead from Goddess Leonie, I purchased a skein of handspun funky wool from blonde chicken’s etsy shop.

The first incarnation: I knitted the length of yarn up as a wide scarf – 20 big fat stitches per row. It was nearly done but I decided it wasn’t working… too wide to wear. Undo.

Next: I knitted most of a vest but ran out of length. I added others yarns which couldn’t really hold their own, but still the garment was not working. Undo.

Now: I have made a scarf – all of 7 stitches wide – that’s already a firm favourite, so light and so cosy, just the right length (and somewhat stretchy) and funky as can be! I love it. Thanks Leonie, and thanks blonde chicken. Thanks to me for persisting until the right manifestation of the chunky wool emerged.

As you can see, it’s chunkily uglily beautiful. It has grey and black and white as well as a pink section and a light green section and lots of random mixture gorgeous sections. It’s super soft. It’s a happy scarf. Do you like the way I arranged it in a big Zorro “Z”?

My lesson: Just as I can persist re-doing the scarf until the “meant to be” form becomes apparent, with pauses for days on end to ponder and mix and match in my head, so too can I make the best of life, if I give myself a little patience and deal with the reality of what I have been given.

Just to let you know, I haven’t posted as regularly as I had planned cos I am planning a bit event – my wedding! Hooray! So I will see you back here with news from the other side after the honeymoon.

Take care,
Meg

Live Bold List 4: "Lessons learned in Lino illuminate Life"

Posted on by September 18, 2009

Dear and wonderful, hearty and brave, Bold Beings – Greetings.

These are my contemplations while I was printing the breast cancer lino blocks today. An extrapolatious philosophisation of activity!

Lino blocks drying in the sun

Lino blocks drying in the sun

Live Bold List 4: Lessons learned in Lino illuminate Life

  1. In printing and in life the rhythms of the process must be attended to. Roll out ink. Ink block. Cover white areas if necessary. Block onto registration paper. Good paper onto block. Pages and wood onto paper. Roll press. Undo. Have a look. Assess mistakes. Repeat. No stage can be missed or hurried. You must remain methodical and composed. Habits handy in life too.
  2. Made a mistake? How are you going to react? Keep calm. How did the mistake happen? Figure it out. Today I inadvertently printed onto the black OverPaper (cos I missed a stage, oops!) It didn’t matter, but needed to be covered to protect the next print.
  3. After the mistakes do you change the goal or persist? And learning to trust that you will decide wisely! Persistance has a lot going for it. Be open, though, to the need to change the goal if you’re aiming towards something and as you get closer you can see it better and it’s not really what you want.
  4. If you have a good teacher she has given you good information in the past which you can recall to correct your mistake, and help the next print be a better one. Can you tell I rectified a few mistakes this morning?! One of the mistakes was on the chooky lady print… too much ink, gloopy print. I remembered I had been taught how to roll the ink noisily to know it’s not too gooey and think. In life, remember what good teachers have taught you. (That’s harder than it sounds, I know!)
  5. Once the prints are working more consistently some confidence comes: ‘I can do something competently’. The sense of achievement, that this is working out ok. The old faithful: practice makes perfect!
  6. The design is carved back-to-front and you don’t know til a lot of effort has gone in whether the picture is going to look ok or not. Sometimes we need to follow the steps and trust that the outcome will be suitable.
  7. I was very glad to be printing, making pictures. I feel gratitude that I can spend time doing so.

I hope that was a little reminder of some of the lessons of life. Making the list made me more aware of my own journey.

In other news I bought a digital camera (you may remember my phone “camera” stopped talking to my computer), the first I have bought and owned for myself not in collaboration with a partner or husband. The camera is red. I like it. The picture at the top was taken with it.

Tons of beautiful, winged wishes,
Meg

3 Links to nurture a bold heart

Posted on by September 13, 2009

Dear Bold Ones,

Today I offer 3 Links to nurture a bold heart via esteem, brain utilisation and music.

A list of times when you “matter“, a short but dense post by Seth Godin, is a reminder about some of the things you might do when being your best.

Love using my brain in a different way. This link to sudoku online, at the site of an Aussie women’s wear shop called  Susanne Grae.

Hear and heal with music for Oxfam. New from Neil Finn, Liam Finn, Ed O’Brien (Radiohead), Phil Selway, Johhny Marr (The Smiths), Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), Lisa Germano and others.

Thanks for reading!
Meg

Live Bold List 3: "Pink"

Posted on by September 1, 2009

Dear Bold Souls,

Since a message arrived from Pink Auctions (see item 1) I have been quite taken, nay even preoccupied, by the colour pink. Indeed, I have been thinking about it so much that it is synchronous for the next Live Bold List, Number 3, to be a list of my random, personal brushes with the world of pink. Here Goes…

Live Bold List 3: “Pink”

  1. Pink Auctions (that link is to their Facebook page) are “…an informal group of artists and makers coming together to make items that are significantly pink, to be sold in the month of October through eBay, Etsy or Artfire and the proceeds of which sales to go to breast cancer research.”
    Hooray! That sounds like fun and worth doing. I’m in. See Number 2. The start of the thinking about pink.
  2. I had ideas for 2 pictures: one a strong wise human breast cancer survivor, and one a predominantly pink stripey cat! I have carved the woman lino print and am currently carving the cat print. I haven’t decided if the cat is in repose or leaping, but either way he is in a garden with pink poppies and little pink flowers as a carpet/foreground. Shall I scan the lino and show you? Let me know in the comments section below or on Facebook.
    … Otherwise stay tuned for the printed, painted, fully-formed artworks – with much pink!
  3. This picture records the new deep rosy leaf growth on the guava tree. I moved the camera (phone) just after the click and before the shot, but I kind of like the effect! Spring today. Hooray!guavablurred_small
  4. The apricot tree is blooming beautifully, with hundreds of pale pink blossoms heralding both the warmer weather and many many potential apricots. Those who were reading this blog last year may recall my apricot tree had only about 6 fruit, but that they were divine! Hoping for a few more this year!Blossom_small
  5. Don’t forget the singer Pink. A bold excellent person whose music, strong and catchy, can make a happy – or conversely poignant (like with Dear Mr. President) – atmosphere anywhere.
  6. My new glasses are almost pink. Purple really, I guess. I admit it. Surely purple is related to pink?
    Me with new glasses_small
  7. Pink cream shortbread biscuits from iChomp. IChomp is an SA company making divine shortbread creams, shortbread fingers and savoury stick biscuits. I came across Sue at the local Farmers Market, but at her site she mentions that she does 4 markets, as well as details the low fat, locally sourced properties of the biscuits.
    In pink, I adore the raspberry cream shortbreads and have just tried the subtle Mulberry this week (that, dearhearts, is an exclusive, because those aren’t up on the site yet), and in ‘not pink’ the double chocolate is great, not too sweet, but very chocolatey.

And I am reminded of my late mentor, Ruth Tuck, who upon opening an exhibition mentioned she had been ‘thinking about green’. I can relate to that.

I remain,
Always tangerinely yours,
Meg

Important Link

Posted on by August 30, 2009

Dear Bold and Lovely Ones,

I am having issues with uploading photos today, so the picture post-that’s-in-the-making will come soon, but not today.

Instead I bring you an important post by Goddess Leonie on Permission. Here’s a little of it:

You have permission to say no whenever you like, however you like, in whatever kind of voice you like, without feeling like only Mean Girls Say No and Nice Girls Say Yes. That’s bullshit. Yes and No have equal weighting – what’s important is if you use them when they are the best thing for you, not out of fear, obligation or guilt.

You have permission to know that Yes is powerful, and so is No. The power comes from you using either from your highest spirit and truest integrity.

I found it quite liberating as well as reassuring. I need to read it again now!

Much love,
Meg

Live Bold List 2: "Links to Boldness"

Posted on by August 19, 2009

Dearly bold-loveds,
Did you ever have Rudyard Kipling read to you when you were young? I remember he used to call the reader Dearly Beloved. You beautiful and bold guys are hence the Bold-Loveds.

fontcircuslady

Today’s list is links to random cool stuff on the net that you might like. I do!

Live Bold List 2: “Links to Boldness”

  1. Lucien Pissarro, a printmaker and painter, was a son of Camille Pissarro. I find this woodcut work quite beautiful.
  2. A font, based on J Borges woodcut prints. I love it! (Oh, if only humans could marry fonts…) It’s called FD J Borges, and is based on the work by Brazilian artist J. Borges. You can even use it for free or modify it so long as you cite “J. Borges” as the original author. There are a limited number of pictures, no capitals or symbols… it’s not really meant for using as a font (& they don’t represent letters). The circus lady above is one of the pics I have modified. You know how to download fonts to your computer, right? Yummy!
  3. A short animated Pixar film about competing musicians. I must admit sometimes small movies or links can make me feel like I have a short attention span. Not this one, I was riveted. It is short, though!!
  4. A great list of things to do from MomGrind, designed with and for children, but I think applicable for all ages, with adaptation!
  5. Join up at the fear.less site to receive stories for free via email. Some of the stuff people have made it through is unbelievable. Their courage and persistance is inspiration for boldness!
  6. Static trapeze article in Wikipedia. I have linked to this before, months ago, but thought it was worth doing so again. I am missing the trapeze, as we have technical issues, so just posting this makes me feel better!
  7. Humna Mustafa paints beautiful henna tattoo body art. The blog post I linked to there has a photo of some hands she painted beautifully this week, ready for her SALA (South Australian Living Artists) exhibition opening on Friday.

Hope there is something there that you can gain something from. Let me know in the comments section below or on my Tangerine Meg Visual Artist page on Facebook. It’s possible to “become a fan” at that page, or from right here… there is a “fan box” to the right of this article.

Be excellent to each other,
Meg

Fighting Birds, and why I believe that means we have a fighting chance

Posted on by August 13, 2009

Dear Boldhearts!

I was running. Ahead of me birds were tussling over a scrap. As I approached their survival instincts took over – was I a threat to them? They stopped fighting and flew further away from me, to safety. I had no intention to harm them, but they don’t know, I am big and moving sort of quickly along along.

Are we, humans on earth, like the birds? We seem to be tussling over scraps, but if a big life-threatening Scary comes, can we too prioritise life over our petty squabbles?

I believe we can.

We, humans on earth, can stop fussing about little stuff, and look after our survival.

It’s time we did.

Be well.
Meg