Sunday 21 April 2013

I'm on holiday...

Mr Tara and I are taking a short holiday to Byron Bay (yay!). 

From tonight my Etsy store will be suspended for a week.  I will be back doing my regular henna gigs at the Ishka stores in early May.
Imagine how sad I feel putting this little bundle of cuteness in a cattery...
But never fear, I found the most lovely of places for her to stay - if you are local and ever need a temporary hotel for your kitty-cat, I recommend Corporate Cats - you can look at their website here.  Vicki the owner is a trained vet and your cat will be pampered, cuddled and clean, with a big comfy cage to roam about in. 

I'm so looking forward to this trip - the backpack is already packed!

Nomadic Tara x

Thursday 18 April 2013

Tribal Thursday...

Welcome to Tribal Thursday... snippets of tribal-ness from around my home...

Indian temple carving adorned with Afghani and Indian jewellery and lit by candlelight...

Some Miao, Tibetan and beaded jewellery which I wore this week and never put away...
Old china plates make for nice candle holders...
Afghani ring...
Tribal earrings - lobe stretchers (!) but ok for short excursions... like a henna gig.
Ankle bracelet with bells which I wear as armband (on top of drawers), earrings and rings - the bottom left hand ring is the size of a golf ball - a bit mad but sometimes the occasion warrants a bit of mad jewellery, in which case, I have just the thing...
Hmong embroidered bag, the colours are more subdued at night...
However, during the day... whoa!!  But I don't mind a bit of colour...
Hand-painted pendant from India... of Green Tara...
Hope you enjoyed my Tribal Thursday.

Tara

Sunday 14 April 2013

Crystal gazing...

Nature is amazing - creating a plethora of colourful rocks and crystals for us to gaze at...

One of my happiest memories is trekking in the Himalayas with Mr Tara and coming across so many different rocks on the trail, we even found a fossil on the Annapurna circuit.  Needless to say we filled one of the pockets of our backpacks with rocks.... not really ideal when lugging your stuff over mountains (so we only kept the small ones!). 

The backpacking collection - from Tibet and Nepal...
Over the years I have also collected a range of colourful crystals which sit in a basket and look pretty, some making it to the window sill every now and again to sparkle in the sunshine.
   
Fluorite, always a bit of a show stopper...
 




   Honey calcite - the newest in the collection...
 

 

 

 



George Harrison meditating in the gardens of his home - what an inspirational man, gentle and serene.  He seems to fit in nicely with this post, communing with nature and all...
Tara x

Note: All images my own, except of course, the one of George, which is courtesy of Tumblr.

Thursday 11 April 2013

My inspiration - East meets West...

Here are my top three inspirational people.  All three have passed on (in fact two were way before my time) but they are legendary in their own way.  I am inspired by them because they sought knowledge in the East, they were explorers, seekers, gentle and strong.

First up is George Harrison.  He made friends with Ravi Shankar and learned the sitar, had a spiritual awakening in India and embodied all the qualities of a gentle soul on a mission that I admire.  Plus, who can resist the long hair, beard and moustache... or is that just me who likes that?!
George and Ravi...
The seeker...
A quiet soul who was in the most famous rock band in the world, what a conundrum that must have been for him...
I'm trying to learn one of his songs on the guitar, I fluff about buzzing strings and mis-firing on the chords but one day I will get there...
Next up is Ekai Kawaguchi (born 1866, died 1945).  This one is a little more obscure.  Kawaguchi was a Japanese monk who made several journeys to Nepal and Tibet.  He was so taken with Tibetan Buddhism that he entered Tibet in disguise (at great risk) in order to complete his pilgrimage.  I had read the book on his life and when I was in Nepal, I happened across his old house in Marpha on the Annapurna Circuit.  Imagine my delight in finding this place - nobody was home but I had a little peek around the courtyard...

I didn't know I was on Kawaguchi's trail at the time, imagine my delight when I saw the sign!
So happy!  I knew he had been in this region but didn't think for a minute I would trek right past his door!
Kawaguchi's courtyard - following in my hero's footsteps!
Finally, we come to Alexandra David-Neel, perhaps more widely known than Kawaguchi (coincidentally they knew each other).  Alexandra was the first western woman explorer to make it to Lhasa, Tibet in 1924.  She was French by birth, but Tibetan by nature!  She was beautiful and strong and brave.  Who can imagine how it was for her to travel to Tibet at that time.  I'm inspired by her in so many ways... 
Dressed for exploration in local clothes
Life as an explorer...
I know its not the same (because clearly she had two horses and I have one....!) but here is me in Tibet with Mr Tara and horse we hired to carry our food and water (that's not all our stuff on the horse, some was for a nomad family further up the valley)...
So there you go - three people who have inspired me to look East for knowledge, to take the road less travelled, and to adopt another culture (well I adopted many but that's another story...).  This is probably why I have ended up working as a Henna Artist with a nice collection of stamps in my passport!
 
I will leave you with George singing one of my all time favourite songs at the concert for Bangladesh in 1971... I'm not sure how many times I have watched this video...!
 
George Harrison My Sweet Lord (for those viewing on an ipad)
 
Tara x

Note: pictures of George, Ekai and Alexandra via Google Images & Tumblr.  All other pictures are my own...

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Nomadic Tara GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ooooh how exciting!!!!  To celebrate the one year anniversary of "Nomadic Tara", and to thank you all for your support, I'm having a giveaway!

The lucky winner will receive the White Star Dreamcatcher (hand made my me) pictured below, plus an extra little surprise...

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment here on this blog post, AND "like" me on either Facebook or Instagram (or both - that would be super nice!).

The winner will be drawn out of a hat on 30th April 2013.

Good luck everyone!

Tara x

Monday 8 April 2013

The journey so far...

This week marks the one year anniversary of "Nomadic Tara".  A year ago, I was, shall we say, a little uninspired by life and my surroundings.  However, I was mainly annoyed at myself for not being on my chosen path.

To cut a long and not so interesting story short, I said goodbye to my corporate job and my healthy pay packet and wandered off to Bali for a couple of weeks with my man.

Back in Melbourne two weeks later, the reality of needing an income set in, so I started on the path of looking for another job.  A few half-hearted job applications later, I was beginning to realise I didn't want more of the same. I had a vision of myself in a years time at yet another office job, still unhappy with my lot, and quite frankly, it was now or never with the "choose your own path" thing.  So..... Nomadic Tara was born.

Well, what a year its been!  Every day I am grateful for the journey Nomadic Tara has taken me on.  Never did I imagine that I could make a living being creative.  Yet I am, and in the process have surrounded myself with people who inspire me, and restored my faith in human nature.  Happy people, good people, creative souls - and it makes all the difference in the world.

Here are just some of the highlights of my year...

Working with my henna buddy Shannon - inspiring and hilarious at the same time...
St Andrews Market - my kind of people!  Here is Anthony and his band of merry music makers jamming at my henna table...
My stall at St Andrews Market which I did over the summer months... 
 
 Henna for three lovely friends at Fountain Gate Ishka...
 A sweet customer and I at Ishka Knox...
Me at Ishka Chadstone...
 Man henna at a festival...
 Doing henna at a festival with Shannon - always memorable! (tee hee, look at those outfits!)
My Ishka Chadstone family including my little cousin Erika, Ashlee, Nicole, and Shannon (my henna buddy)...
My Ishka Fountain Gate family... always a pleasure doing henna instore with this happy bunch...
Another fun project was henna on my little cousin Erika for my portfolio.  Here she is with peacock henna and bridal feet... she is always patient while I fluff about for hours with the henna cone...

My bestie visited all the way from London so that we could have matching henna tattoos (miss you Kimmy!)...

 I was inspired by real life peacocks and produced some henna inspired pen and ink drawings...
 
 
I adopted Phoebe from the animal shelter, and that just made a happy year even happier...
 I made many many things for my Etsy store and found lovely customers from all around the globe...
Market bags made from vintage linen tea towels...
 Artists aprons (I call them this because cooking is not my forte)...
 My artwork on greeting cards...
 Vintage linen bags...
One of a kind dreamcatchers...

So here I am, celebrating the one year anniversary of Nomadic Tara.  Thank you to everyone who supported me along the way, whether it was stopping by my henna table, coming to markets, shopping in my Etsy store or encouraging me along the path (especially you Mr Tara!)
 
To celebrate I'm having a giveaway.... details coming soon!
 
Tara x