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Inktober 2021 – Day 9 Pressure

That delicate pressure applied while this flamingo was preening was too good to pass up.

The reference photo was taken from my visit to the Indianapolis Zoo last month

Playing a bit of catch up. I knew I would have these days so have salted some pre made pieces into the process. This one I went on to watercolor and it now hangs in my sunroom.

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Inktober 2021 – Day 8 Watch

This is my friend Sam’s tuxedo cat, Sadie – with the glorious whiskers!

I love a curious cat – you gotta keep an eye on those neighbors! This one allowed me the opportunity to practice whiskers and my white gel pen.

Things that bring me joy.

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Inktober – Day 6 Spirit

Blue Zeus

Over the past year, Skydog Sanctuary (and their many supporters) have been working hard to pull this gorgeous stallion out of the kill pens out West (yeah, horrible and sad stuff), and they finally did it.

But then they went one further and searched and found his band of mares and foals. It was not easy, and once they had them, they slowly built them back up physically and helped them acclimate to their new lands.

Last week they united Blue Zeus with his band in a wonderful, much anticipated reunion. This wonderful band will now run their new hills for the rest of their lives, supported through the stewardship of Skydog Ranch.

The spirit of these magnificent animals is amazing and the spirit of Blue Zeus and his mares during all of this frightful chaos has been a source of hope and healing for me.

Good people doing good things – look for the helpers!

Note: This guy will reappear in watercolor before the month is over, I bet! I am thinking he is going on my wall, this situation has been such an inspiration that there are good people out there fighting for the right things and making a difference to lives.

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Inktober 2021 – Day 5 Raven

Ink wash on watercolor

Anyone following me knows that I follow The Daily James – James and his mate, Margaret, are certainly a positive example of love and devotion and of relationship goals. I draw them each Inktober.

This is their morning greeting after waking up. You can not question that birds are quite sentient beings after watching them. And I want to thank the folks whose house they chose to live near for sharing this special relationship with the world.

The world needs a little more beak clacking, don’t cha think?

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Inktober 2021 – Day 4 Knot

Ink wash on watercolor paper – I have seen gorgeous ink washes. I am not sure about doing them myself just yet.

“Look for the helpers.”

Fred Rogers’ mother reminded him to find these people in times of tragedy and anxiety, and this is exactly what I am doing this month. “You can always find people who are helping,” he said. So inking him tying his shoes at the beginning of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood made sense for “knot” and sets the tone for this month.

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Inktober 2021 – Day 3 Vessel

Our pets are vessels of love, joy, healing which they offer to us unconditionally. It only made sense that Toby would be among the first images for this month.

This is a pre-watercolor inked version with the process below. The watercolor is at the bottom. I have that picture sitting on the mantle where I will analyze it for the next week. <grin> Anyone else do that? I know I need to add his white whiskers, but I may want to work on some of the paint values and tweak them before it is finished.

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Inktober – Day 2 Suit

“Chickadees look like they are wearing little suits,” Charlotte exclaimed earlier this week as she watched our favorite little birds at our feeders. I knew then that was perfect for today. I used one of her photos as my source file. What a great example of one of the sweetest daily joys in my world.

So this morning I was thinking about how I wanted to render this (with a broad brush, as it turned out) when I heard a thump on the livingroom window. Ugh. Not yet out of bed and a bird hits the window. I padded out to look through the window over the tell tale shoulder of my cat as she stared intently down on the deck below where she was seated. Ugh again, a chickadee?!!

No way. Not today!

And they never hit the windows (which have film and stickers on them to stop this mistaken behavior.)

It was laying on its side and I was sure it was dead, then I realized that its little body was panting. Unlocking the back door, I slipped out hoping the neighbors were not noticing my jammies, and picked it up, sniffling. Carrying it tenderly inside, I put it into a dark shoe box, which is best for this type of injury, and said a prayer.

This was not the day for this, I thought sourly.

For the next 2 hours I went about the business of the morning and also threw open all the windows in hope that the little fella’s last hours were at least full of normal life sounds.

When I finally went to check on his status, having not heard a sound, I realize a miracle had occurred!

I did not even get his box lid open (back out on the deck) 2 inches before he had zipped out so fast I only saw a blur. A happy little bird, flying as straight as a bouncy little chickadee can fly. Thank you, Jesus!

Hope and Healing! A perfect moment for the both of us this morning.

And then I inked my picture full of much joy.

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Inktober 2021 – Hope & Healing

Used a stick from my yard as a dip pen on watercolor paper.

Hope and Healing Project

This year I am choosing to use Inktober for multiple purposes, but the main one is to counterbalance all the sadness of this past year. We just buried another friend this week. Not covid. Those close to me have not been covid related.

  • This month is also the 1st anniversary of the loss of my brother from cancer
  • My best friend, Lainey, lost her mother earlier this year
  • We lost my Aunt Thelma
  • A teammate (my expert on my project) passed suddenly this past Spring.
  • A friend just this week
  • There are untold losses amongst the extended social, work, and church networks. This has been a year for Sympathy cards and condolences

While searching out images of hope and healing and things that bring me joy, I was thinking about the first prompt – Crystal. I do not own much crystal, but I know it is precious. And a good crystal dish is lovely and highly valued. But it is also easily shattered when not handled with care and reverence.

It was not a big leap to think of our hearts and how easily shattered they are. The grief, the loss, the hard things in life. So I went searching for that time in life before our pure hearts were broken and there it was. Myself and my much loved cousin enjoying Christmas before the world intruded. Before our hearts were scarred.

A time of innocence and joy. I want to tap back into that time – that heart is still there. It is time to heal.

I have been watercoloring this image before the Day 1 inking above.

Myself and my cousin Rick unwrapping our Christmas gifts at Grandma’s house in the 1960s