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Inktober 2023 Week 2

Continuous line is coming along, and I am learning a lot that I never suspected – like, you really need to plan out where your start and stopping points will be and how you want to create textures, or not.

These do not land in order:

  • Toad
  • Bounce
  • Fortune (Warren Buffet) – this is when I began to realize I am getting somewhere with this
  • Wander – woo hoo, Bilbo and Frodo’s hobbit house – where all epic journeys begin
  • Spicy – my Bendi when he met the new puppy a couple of weeks ago
  • Rise – See below
  • Castle – Warrick Castle, England – the first castle I ever met in person and the awe is still there

Rise – the image in the upper right below – this is my annual commemorative drawing of my brother who passed away at this time in 2020. Smack during covid and we could not even travel for a funeral.

“Hope rises like a Phoenix from the ashes of shattered dreams.” – S. A. Sachs
Thinking of all the losses many of us have suffered in the past 3 years. Inktober is firmly linked with a consuming devastation and the climb back out of that dark place, until hope could catch me once again and carry me up – away from it’s grip.

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Inktober 2023 Week 1

This year I am absolutely swamped – with teaching a class, a busy tech writing contract, commissions, gifts, and more. Sooo…. something I had my students do is continuous line drawings as warmups. Well why not? They are quick.

Whoa! They are also humbling! Not easy at all, but very good practice for the artist’s eye and hand. So here we go!

  • Dream – Airstream above – always been a dream of mine to travel
  • Spider – our garden spiders as a kid
  • Path – a favorite birding path
  • Dodge – the Skydog Donkeys who dodged a bullet, literally, when rescued, and for some reason I labeled it “bullet” – you can follow them on Instagram as @skydogdonkeys
  • Map – Hummingbird migration!
  • Golden – Golden Retriever
  • Drip – The Cardinal in feeder of melting ice last winter
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Inktober 2023

Inktober is here! However, I am busy teaching high school art, working full time, and finishing Christmas commissions. What to do, what to do?!

Catch me on Instagram for a daily post – I will be working to build my skill with continuous line drawings. They are quick, but not easy. A good way to keep the ol’ artist’s eye fresh and the creative brain challenged.

I will post the week’s collection on here, so you won’t miss out if you are not on Instagram.

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Grandma’s Kitchen

In January I love to pull out my tan paper and practice on the toned surface with white ink. However, I tend to be recovering from a 3 month push on Inktober and then holiday painting and crash instead.

This year I did do an image of Grandma’s kitchen. She had steps leading down into it and I remember sitting on those steps with this very view many times as a child. I never thought about it, but she had an old stove, and then the new one in the corner. But with the huge extended family, both stoves were put into service during the holidays. I think of how small that kitchen was. Her whole house, really. And she raised 10 kids and a lot of grandkids there!

I also did a tribute to Cassidy, a little mini-hini that ran with the mustangs at Skydog Sanctuary. He passed and it was a great loss to even those of us who never met him in person. This made me want to spend more time drawing horses and donkeys!

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Sweet Lily Girl

I put out a call to my Facebook friends for pets to practice my line work and inkwash on this year. I was planning to pull out of a hat, lottery style, but I could not do it. How can we reject any of these precious pets? Fortunately the submissions were manageable and I have been working on these Inktober submissions until all are done. Here is the final one and rounds out 2022 on a lovely note.

I chose to do more line and a large brush wash on her.

Sweet Lily appeared on an ornament commission a few years ago! It was fun to revisit her cute face in another medium.

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2 Kitties and their Pup

These 2 cats were watercolor memorial gifts for a friend. Her dog was an Inktober image you may have seen months ago. It is always such a pleasure and an honor to do these.

I know my art has always been about gifting and bringing joy to another human being. Finding that special image that helps heal their heart and show some kindness and gentleness in the world. Pet portraits do just that, so it is no surprise that I gravitate to them as a choice of expression.

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Some East Coast Fur-babies

I am finally getting caught up on my Inktober pet portraits, interrupted by some final ornament orders. This is Fergus, joining Boo (who was completed in October) on their trip to the East Coast, compliments of the US Postal Service.