Friday 31 August 2012

Henna at the Market tomorrow...

A reminder that I shall be situated under a tree at St Andrews Market tomorrow with Mr Tara, selling my handmade goodies and doing henna tattoos - my idea of a perfect day!

I took this photo today while my henna was drying in the sun (please Melbourne, give me sunshine tomorrow...I don't want a soggy stalll...!)
Happy Friday everyone!

Tara

PS.  My Etsy store will be closed from 8pm tonight as I am taking my stock to the market. It should be back online some time on Saturday night.

Borrowed Blooms...

Every year I await my neighbour's jasmine bush popping over the fence and cascading fragrant blooms into my garden. 

I've been watching every day over the last couple of weeks for the first bloom.... today was the day!

 It's dripping down along 2m of fenceline...
I'm looking forward to vases of jasmine in my home over the coming weeks. 

Tara

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Three Friends...

I am meeting up with three lovely friends today.  Two of them are celebrating Birthdays, so I wanted to make them something pretty.  I didn't want the third friend to feel left out, and since she has just started her own blog, instead of a "Birthday present", she's getting a "Blogday present".

It was nice to sit and make each bag, thinking of the person I was making it for, and all the silly things we've gotten up to over the years.  I can't wait to see them and give them their presents, catch up on all their news, and indulge in breakfast "out".  Not something I get to do often.

This one is for Katie, its her Birthday next week and she likes handmade things, and blue...
This one is for Collette, another Birthday girl, and she likes things in earthy tones...
This one is for Shannon, its her Blogday and she likes every colour in the rainbow, so you can't go wrong really...
 
So there you have it, yesterday's little project.  I recommend you take a look at Shannon's blog.  She is incredibly artistic and her blog is going to be one very special place.  Here is the link.

Tara

Monday 27 August 2012

St Andrews Market... this Saturday 1st September

Just to let you all know, Nomadic Tara will be off to market this Saturday 1st September. I will be having a stall at St Andrew's Market on the outskirts of Melbourne. You can see the market web page here. 

St Andrews is my absolute favourite Melbourne market, full of my kinda people!  It is set amongst the trees and has such a wonderful chilled atmosphere, live music, and great food.  So, if any of you are passing on Saturday, please come and say hello, I would love to see you. 

I'm excited to be able to do Henna Tattoos on Saturday as well as selling my handcrafted goodies.  Mr Tara has kindly offered to come along and help run the stall while I decorate my customers! 

Please note that my Etsy store will be closed from Friday night until Saturday night as I will effectively be taking most of my stock to market.

I set up a mock stall in our dining room so that I could see if it all fits on my market table (a nifty little folding number I found at the hardware store).  Here's a sneak peek...




 Bags hanging in a row - I figure I have room to display 10 at a time...
Well, there is much to do if I am to be organised for Saturday's market.  I'm off now to write price tags (in my best handwriting)...

Tara

Friday 24 August 2012

Decorating the doorstep...

Hello!

I am happy to say, after a bit of an artistic lull (I have not really created anything of note in the last two weeks), the lull is over, and I am back in a creative state of mind.

On Wednesday the sun shone in Melbourne, and we hit 20 degrees.  It was like summer!  But then, the weather did an about turn, and today is 14 degrees and chilly...

However, I've been out in the cold this morning decorating my doorstep.  "Visitors???" I hear you say.... well no, its just I saw this video from Rajasthan (India) on YouTube about Mandana painting on houses, and it captured my imagination.  The entrance way to our house is very ordinary - standard Melbourne brick and concrete circa 1980's.  Well, after today's efforts, its a little more interesting. 

I've never decorated the walls before, and I didn't want to wait for a special occasion (or a sunny day).  So, I braved the cold with my gloves on to decorate our entrance way with tribal style images.  The brick work is not exactly conducive to chalk drawing but I made do.  It will be a nice surprise for Mr Tara when he gets home from work won't it? 


 


  The obligatory Peacock...
 

So there it is, my tribal entranceway.  Lets hope the rain doesn't completely destroy the one on the ground!
 
Another type of doorstep decoration which you see all over India is Rangoli, which is chalk designs on the ground outside houses. I've been decorating my doorstep for visitors and parties for years (since seeing this in India), its one of my favourite things to do.  Here are a few from over the years.... 
 The lotus bloom lasted for weeks as it was summer so it never got rained on...
This one was for a party...
 as was this...

I've also been making new things for Nomadic Tara's shop, and hope to have them in the store by next week if I get the photo shoot done.  ***Note to whoever is in charge of Melbourne's weather, I'm going to need sunshine for this....
 
I hope your weekend is fun... perhaps you too, will be decorating your doorstep!
 
Tara 

Monday 20 August 2012

Guitars and Peacocks...

What a lovely weekend! 

Mr Tara and I went to the artist colony Montsalvat on Saturday to see the handmade Guitar exhibition (amazing!) and to stalk the Peacocks (worth getting my boots covered in mud).  We then went back on Sunday night for a Guitar concert.  Set in a lovely mud-brick and exposed beams hall, the concert was such a good showcase of many types of guitar music - from Classical, to Pop, Gypsy and more...

The highlight of the evening was when two guitarists played Minor Swing, which many of you may recognise from Chocolat, when Johnny Depp played it (swoon!).  You can listen to it here and also have a little swoon of your own over the lovely Mr Depp.  To hear this piece live was so inspirational and stirred my Gypsy soul!

It was the first time to hear guitarist Jenny Biddle play (on a guitar she handmade herself).  She too, was amazing and I would love to hear more of her music.  Not only was she a great guitar player, but she had the gift of entertaining a crowd, a cheeky grin and a booming voice for such a little person! 
You can check out Jenny's cover of Billie Jean here.  This was from another concert but its worth having a look.

Mr Tara starts his guitar building course in October, (he's itching to get started).

Here are the pictures we took...
 Beautiful native Australian timbers are used...

 This one was used to play minor swing...
 Stunning Sassafras wood...
 Peacock stalking...
 There was only a little bit of this....
 not quite the full fan...
 Montsalvat's charm...
 I just wanted to knock and see who was there...
 A pea-hen...
 A gaggle (!) of geese...
 Quick...he's getting away (I was in hot pursuit...ok, well a gentle hot pursuit)...

This is me trying to coax the pea-hens down off the roof.  There is no way they were listening to me...
 The grounds of Montsalvat
 Pea-hen strolls past...
 Striking a pose...
 Is he checking me out?
 Weather vane and pea-hen...
 It must be time for tea...
Back home, I've got my peacock coloured pens out for a spot of coloured henna drawing (normally I only use black pen, but these beautiful birds have me trying something new...)
Well thank you for staying right here to the end...

Tara

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Indian Hand Painted Miniatures...

Here is a little collection of mine... Indian hand painted miniatures on pendants...
Vishnu...
 Laxmi... 
 Ganesh against a moonlight sky...
 Buddha on blue - this one was given to me by a friend when I went travelling...
 Krishna & Radha...
 Buddha...
Jagannath... you don't often see this image depicted.  Traditionally the idols of Jagannath are carved from the wood of the Neem tree... but here he is on a little miniature...
 Laxmi...
 the reverse sides are also lovely...
I love them all and can't even pick a favourite, but today I am wearing this one...

Tara