Wow!!  Hard to believe it's been over a year since I posted in here!  I need to get back to regular blog posts.

I wanted to share the latest Livin' the MAD Life purse collection featuring my cityscape paintings.  This is my favorite purse collection so far, I just love everything about it!  The handbag style with the gold rivets is classy and works for day or night and features some of my favorite cities, including two of Miami, my home and favorite city.

do ​It's funny thinking back to when I was a wild bush kid growing up in Alaska and how I would love to go to my grandmas and watch Miami Vice, my favorite show as a kid.  I dreamed of one day living in Miami, and two years ago I made that dream come true, even having lived in Florida for over 20 years, it never was Miami.  Back to the Alaskan bush kid...all my siblings and the neighboring village kids would always tease me and call my "city girl", hahaha!  At the time, I would get so mad, because I was the ultimate tomboy and could anything as well, or better than, any of the boys, so to be called a city girl, was the ultimate insult.   But, here I am in one of the biggest, most happening cities on the planet and I feel right at home here.  I've found a way to balance my love of the outdoors with city life and get the best of both worlds.

Click HERE to view the whole collection

​It's my Birthday today!  And for this entire week I'm offering some unique Circle of Life paintings at reduced prices as a thank you to my fans and collectors for following me and my art for so many years, I am truly blessed to follow my passion and make a fulfilling career from it.  You can see all of the paintings as they become available on the Mini PoP Monday page. And I wouldn't be able to do it without all of you, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I will also be donating 20% of all proceeds from original paintings sold this week to No More Tears, a Miami based charitable foundation that is devoted to providing individualized assistance to victims of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence in the U.S.

As a survivor of domestic abuse it is important to me to be able to give back and help other women who are in a similar situation as I was and be able to be free and live the life they truly deserve.  I hope I can inspire other women to know that there IS a better life for them free from abuse and fear.  This past year has been the best year of my life, I'm living my dreams, painting full time, building a new business, traveling and riding and racing my mountain bike, my second passion.  I feel like I'm finally able to be myself after decades of being repressed, and fear governing everything I did and said, but no longer!  This year has been filled with growth, change, revelations, and new beginnings.  I wake up every day thankful and blessed, motivated to chase after my dreams and create new ones, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

​I've also become much more involved with my biking, and have some great events coming up soon that tie in with my art, it just doesn't get any better than that for me!  My biking has been my saving grace this past year, it allows me to leave any worries behind and just be outdoors and focus in the moment. I've also met so many wonderful and amazing people in the South Florida cycling community who have welcomed me with open arms and are so supportive of my biking endeavors, including Arnie, owner of Bike Tech stores and VeloSport Events, who I am doing a very special event with soon, and am honored to be an Ambassador for.  I'm also going to be racing an entire mountain bike series for the first time ever, wish me luck, haha!!  As a woman, cycling is a truly empowering experience in so many ways.  It's very much a "mans sport", the ratio is close to 80% men to only 20% women; but myself and other women, and organizations, like VeloSport Events, are working to change this and get more women on bikes!  When I'm riding I feel free, energized and focused on the job at hand.  Knowing that just by showing up at the trails, racing and sharing my overall love for the sport I'm opening doors for other women to do the same; to make women aware of how rewarding it is to be on a bike, whether as a way to workout, be competitive, for the sheer pleasure of it, or all of the above!  And to also let more men see women on the trails and road, and that we are here to stay and help grow the sport.  It's one of my goals and dreams to inspire as many women as possible to get out and ride and experience the freedom and joy that comes with being a badass woman cyclist!

​​I'm also starting to paint some new abstract, symbolic paintings that incorporate my love of biking with my art, truly a fulfilling experience for me to combine my two passions, look for more of these paintings to come to life soon!  I have also started to video all new paintings and create time lapse videos that can be seen on my YouTube channel. 

So many wonderful opportunities coming up for my art and cycling over the next year, I'm super excited to share them with all of you as they happen.  Thank you again for being a part of my life and art journey, YOU all inspire me to keep reaching for the stars and following my passions, I hope I can do the same for you.

Best,
Megan

I'm so excited to announce I will now be creating even more art and at an even more affordable price, for Mini PoP Monday's!

Every Monday I will be releasing Mini PoP, original, laminated paintings (6"x6"in), MAD Sketches, which are authentic, real sketches that were created with pencil and pen on paper. And several new abstract paintings, on bristol paper.

You may have seen these styles before, but never at this price. I've decided to lower the cost for the Mini PoP Monday series for several reasons; 1. I want to offer art that is affordable for everyone, 2. After 15 years of painting, I've become a very prolific artist and can create new artwork very quickly, and 3. I love to paint on smaller paper and canvas as studies for potential larger art pieces. 

All that being said, I'm excited to share with you guys the first of many mini PoP's. These will be available for sale on http://www.madartdesigns.com/shop.html, and will be changed out weekly with new pieces, so don't miss out, these guys sell like hot cakes!
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Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter at www.madartdesigns.com to be the first to know.

These orders are all free U.S. Shipping.

Happy New Year!!  2018 is going to be an amazing year, lot's of great plans, goals and dreams to work towards, one of which is the new designer purse brand "Livin the MAD Life™" my daughter Aroon and I have co-founded that features my art and is sustainable and cruelty free fashion for the empowered woman.

Livin' the MAD Life Mission Statement and Purpose:

​It is no secret that women and men have different privileges, whether it be in the workforce or home. Today, more than ever, women are trying to change the way society defines the female role. And we want to be apart of that change.

Livin' the MAD Life is run by a mother and daughter duo, who wanted to create a company that supported the female empowerment movement. And one thing most all women love and have in common, is the love for all things fashion. We not only wanted to create gorgeous bags and purses, but we wanted to incorporate something more into each design. Therefore, each bag and design has a MAD symbol, or multiple symbols, worked into the art work. These symbols can stand for empower, strength, courage, love, etc, to see what all of our hand painted symbols stand for, visit our symbols page.
Sustainability 
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, only behind the oil industry, and it is only growing. Today the world now consumes around 80 billion pieces of clothing annually (up 400 percent from 20 years ago.) Livin' the MAD Life, recognizes the need for fashion pollution awareness, which is why we only use thrifted and up-cycled products for our original purses and bags. 
Although our limited edition and logo bags are not thrifted or up-cycled, they are works of art and each individually hand signed by the artist to make them more of a collectors piece, versus fast fashion. 
Cruelty Free
Behind every fur coat, leather bag, suede belt or alligator boot was once a living animal, and millions are killed annually to support the fashion industry. Therefore, we have decided to keep all of our bags and purses made from vegan or synthetic materials. No animals were harmed in the making of these bags, and we hope to spread the cruelty free movement. 
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 Mission Statement..."To empower women through sustainable and purposeful fashion." 

So excited to finally share my big news!! I bought my own island in Meyers Chuck, AK where I grew up! Yes, my very OWN island, it may be small, but it is soooo perfect for me 💕💖💗 and the whales pass right on the edge of the island during the summers, cruising back and forth, bubble feeding and breaching...and anyone who knows me well, knows how utterly obsessed with whales I am. And the view and sunsets are incomparable...my own little piece of heaven.

Next summer I will be building a little studio cabin to have a special place of of my own to retreat to and absorb the beauty and nature that will always be home. And of course to visit with all of my family whenever I want. And speaking of family, another cool thing about this island is that my older brother James has always had a dream to build a tall tower on it...so now he gets to!! I can only imagine what he's going to come up with...but whatever it is, it WILL be epic and the talk of Southeast Alaska...and beyond, hahaha. I do know he said it will be tall enough to require a light to warn all the floatplanes, hahaha....it's going to be soooooo good, I can't wait!!

​And it's only fitting that I have christened it MAD Island 😉😉😉 and bring a little bit of my Florida roots to Alaska with some fabulously flamboyant pink flamingos!! I can be an eccentric artist when I want, hehehe 😁😁😁
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And thanks to my sister for providing me with all these great pics since I'm not up there to do it myself, and putting up my MAD sign and flock of flamingos 😚😚😚. I'm only just getting started, this is going to be sooooo much fun!!!