Inktober 2020- Part 2

For the 3rd year in a row, I paricipated in a drawing challenge called Inktober. Inktober is a month long art challenge created by artist Jake Parker that is focused on improving skills and developing positive drawing habits. Every day for the month of October anyone participating in the Inktober challenge creates an ink drawing and posts it online.

I must admit that I got a little behind and didn’t finish the challenge until November 10. I was enjoying the challenge but didn’t want to rush it as life’s nuances crept in to prevent a timely completion! So while others were posting their last drawings, I was still plugging away.

But here, finally, is the second half of the month’s (or so) worth of drawings and the prompts that sparked them. Enjoy!

Day 16- Rocket. Made to look like a 1940’s ad for Rocket Popsicles. I had seen a show on Netflix about old toy ads. The language was simple and direct. Very innocent, too! I know they had their share of problems back then, but it did seem like such a simple life!

Day 17- Storm. The storm we are in as demonstrated by Bugs Bunnies’ Tasmanian Devil.

Day 18-Trap. A watercolor sketch of pitcher plants. Those carnivorous plants that bugs get trapped in. The con men of the plant world!

Day 19- Dizzy. A dizzy mixed media piece created during a long Zoom webinar. Thank God for mute and video off buttons!

Day 20- Coral. Imagine how confusing it would be to swim around a coral reef if you where a new fish on the block. That’s what I attempted to depict. This only took 20-30 minutes to create and is one of my favorite drawings in the sketchbook!

Day 21- Sleep. A precious picture of my daughter and husband taking a nap together after a long drive to visit friends many years ago.

Day 22- Chef. Jay Far from Bangkok who won a Michlin Star for her amazing Thailand Street Food. I learned about her through a Netflix show we’ve been watching over this pandemic called “Somebody Feed Phil”. It’s basically about a funny guy named Phil who travels around the world eating fantastic food. What a great job to have!

Day 23- Rip. A ripped paper collage of Rip Van Winkle. I admit, this took way too long to create but was so much fun. (By the way, I just now realized that I had written the wrong title on the piece! Am I the last to notice this?!)

Day 24- Dig. A gravedigger a la Day of the Dead motif. Such fun to create! Yes, I’m a little off on my days, too!

Day 25- Buddy. Inspired by a photo of my son and daughter walking into a grocery store together. They are truly buddies. It is so wonderful to witness! Again, yes, I’m off a day!

Day 26- Hide. I created this with a combination of gel printing, pen and ink, and colored pencil. It was another one of those that evolved as I worked on it. But I’m happy with the underwater feel that was created.

Day 27 and 28- Music and Float. I was feeling very happy and hopeful when I created this. The story I made up is that it is of Hattie Reynolds and her Floating Gospel Band singing “Oh Happy Day.”

Day 29- Shoes. Shoes are a metaphor for friends. You got your sporty ones, your casual flip flops (acquaintances?), your dressy ones, your ones that pinch your feet and you probably should get rid of… these shoes just happen to be some of my favorites. They’re my good, reliable friends!

Day 30- Ominous. A watercolor sketch of a cornfield with lots of black shadows. Whenever you see a cornfield in a movie you know it’s not going to be good!

Day 31- Crawl. For the last page in my sketchbook I chose to combine the words “Crawling to Day 31” with an image of a vine crawiling up a branch.

So there it is. The last half of my 2020 Inktober Challenge. Even though it took me longer than expected, I really enjoyed trying out different styles and mediums. It was fun to come up with creative ideas for the prompts as well.

Check out my Instagram page for a video tour of my completed Inktober sketchbook. I even designed the front and back covers as well.

Also, I have just created a shop on my website that features gift items (cards, stickers, magnets, and a 2020 ornament) of some of my past Inktober drawings- and I plan to add a few more from this year’s challenge as well. Click here to visit my shop.

Thanks for joining me on this Inktober journey. I appreciate all of you who have commented and cheered me on as I posted them on my social media sites. Your encouragement kept me going!

Inktober 2020- Part 1

For the 3rd year in a row, I am participating in a drawing challenge called Inktober. Inktober is a month long art challenge created by artist Jake Parker that is focused on improving skills and developing positive drawing habits. Every day for the month of October anyone participating in the Inktober challenge creates an ink drawing and posts it online.

Here is the first half of the month’s worth of drawings and the prompts that sparked them. Enjoy!

Day 1- Fish. I depicted a fish from deep in the bowels of the ocean where light barely reaches. This one has jewels that reflect the light to draw smaller fish to it. A cunning little fella!

Day 2- Wisp. I was thinking about this word and wondering what it meant to me as I was walking my dog- and then walked right into a spider web! (I’m not proud to say that I squealed!) But there was my answer, a wispy spider web- barely discernible yet mighty. In it a spider is able to catch insects and make them immobile. The stuff of nightmares!

Day 3- Bulky. When I Googled this word all the images were of bodybuilders. Not what I was expecting! (I was thinking more along the lines of bulky sweaters and bulging sacks of Santa’s toys.) But I began to sketch them and learned a lot about muscles and where they can be located if you work hard enough! But I also learned that I prefer bodybuilders with a little clothing on them. So my drawing morphed into a circus performer named Sven, The Mighty Strongman from the little known Macdowell’s Traveling Circus out of Kalamazoo, MI!

Day 4- Radio. Good Morning Vietnam! My favorite movie of the late, great Robin Williams. This movie was funny, heartwarming, and frightening- and Robin was the glue that held it together. I admit, my likeness of him isn’t great- but I hope I captured his animated energy.

Day 5- Blade. Blade Runner 2020. Grass doesn’t stand a chance!

Day 6- Rodent. The Nutcracker battling The Mouse King. My tribute to the Nutcracker which we’ll sadly have to miss this year due to Covid. This is one of those pieces that started in one place and ended up in a completely different one!

Day 7- Fancy. There’s nothing fancier than an Indian wedding. A gorgeous Indian couple in their finery.

Day 8- Tooth. Tooth=Smile=Happy=”Shiney Happy People'“ by REM. This was was just fun to do!!

Day 9- Throw. A throw down between kids and puppies. Who will win??!

Day 10- Hope. I was going more for the feeling of hope here. All I know is that we need lots of hope right now so I decided to fill the page with it and put it in big lettering. Feel free to take some and pass it on!

Day 11- Disgusting. A disgusting stew of ears, worms, insects, and chicken feet!

Day 12- Slippery. The leaves can be slick when you’re out on your bike. But the fall colors make it worth the risk!

Day 13- Dune. Out exploring on the grassy dunes.

Day 14- Armor. Once again taking liberty with the prompt. Thinking about the shell of the turtle as it’s armor. Decided to do a gouache drawing inspired by aboriginal art. So fun!!

Day 15- Outpost.There’s a row of these put out by the rangers at Glacier Ridge Metro Park. If you come by at the right time you’ll hear a chorus of birds and see them flying in and out of them.

So there you have it. The first half of Inktober. I’m having a lot of fun with it while allowing myself to be creative both with the subjects and the styles.

I admit I don’t always create these every day and I always seem to be a few days behind. But I create them whenever I can and post them on Instagram when I do. Follow me at @artatdawn to see them as they happen!

Which one is your favorite and why?

I look forward to bringing you more drawings at the end of the month!

Inktober Week 4

What a month it’s been! It hasn’t always been easy finding the time to do these drawings but somehow I’ve always found a way. Often I was many days behind, but I tried to just focus on the day that I was working on and not where I was supposed to be. That was a challenge in itself!!

The following are the drawings for week 4 of my Inktober Challenge and a bonus video at the end of my entire Sketchbook Tour. Enjoy!!

Day 22- Ghost. Just a bit of fun with this one. Believe it or not, I was stuck on what to draw and just started doodling on the TV Guide of our newspaper. What I learned- just start somewhere!

Day 23- Ancient. A combo of influences went into creating this one- Native American, Folk, Aboriginal, and Coptic Designs. I wanted to create an ancient design using lots of symbols and animals.

Day 24- Dizzy. Here the shredder was my friend! I used colorful magazine pictures that I had shredded and glued onto a bright background to create a dizzy Jackson Pollack-type piece.

Day 25- Tasty. A Caterpillar nibbling on a tasty leaf. Painted on a watercolor ground with pen drawing on top.

Day 26- Dark. My dark dog, Cash. Named after Johnny Cash. The dog in black!

This started off being about Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors- but it turned into a woman in a big flowing housecoat fleeing or summoning someone? You never know where your drawings will take you!!

Day 28- Ride. Here I experimented with some printing techniques. I had fun with the composition of the page as well.

Day 29- Injured. As I was thinking of the word for this day, I kept thinking of the Prayer of St. Francis. So I decided to do some word art with it on a printed background.

Day 30- Catch. I now understand why my husband is so possessive of his baseball glove. They are such a complicated, organic, almost breathing thing!

Day 31- Ripe. I had a lot of fun creating this pop-up page of ripe fruit. I took pop-up mechanisms from old greeting cards and springs from pens attached to paintings of fruit. I wanted my last page to have a little celebration!

I’d love to hear your reaction to my Challenge. Which drawings were your favorites? Which ones would you like to see reproduced in a card, sticker, or print?

Inktober- Week 3

It’s now week 3 of my Inktober Challenge where I am using the official prompt list and creating a drawing every day this October based on it. (See week’s 1 and 2 as well.)

Working on these drawings this month has been a rollercoaster. My brain has been working overtime to come up with ideas for the prompts. I’ve really tried to make this challenge a creative exercise by using various art materials and styles. I’m also trying to think “outside the box” with the words.

Some days are better than others. Sometimes I feel like I’ve reached the summit and am riding the coaster down in a joyous ride. Other times I feel like I’m slogging around twists and turns, wondering where I’m going.

But all in all, it has been a fun ride and I’m happy to share my progress with all of you.

Day 15- Legend. St. Patrick, who drove the snakes out of Ireland. In my drawing he seems to be saying to himself, “Why am I doing this?!”

Day 16- Wild. A fun assemblage of wild flowers. Wild in every sense of the word!

Day 17- Ornament. A watercolor rendering of the beautiful ornamental interior of the Basilica at The University of Notre Dame. It’s my husband’s alma mater and we try to get there for a game or two every year.

Day 18- Misfit. A marker drawing of a little girl trying to fit into her mother’s shoes.

Day 19- Sling. This was my first time drawing a kangaroo and I learned what a funny animal it is with short arms, long feet, and a pouch that almost reaches the ground with a 40 IB Kid in it!

Day 20- Tread. A peaceful walk along the beach with my extended family over New Years last year.

Day 21- Treasure. Every day is a treasure. This was sunrise over Brand St. as I was running my son’s missing lunch to him one morning last week. Driving the car while taking the picture reference wasn’t easy (or safe), but it was just the inspiration I needed!

I’m a few days behind in my prompts, but I’m hoping to catch up to finish this challenge by Halloween. You can follow my daily progress on Facebook and Instagram.

Tune in towards the end of next week when I will publish my last post in this series. I’m also hoping to create a video of my entire sketchbook where I’ll have a few more tidbits to share about each drawing.

Back to the drawing board! See you next week!!

Inktober- Week 2

I’ve made it to week 2 of my Inktober challenge! (See last week’s blog post for an explanation.) This week I stretched my brain to come up with the ideas. A few ideas came easily, but most had to be pried loose from the recesses of my mind. Often I wasn’t really sure what I was doing until I was well into it!

So here are this week’s worth of drawings and the prompts that sparked them. Enjoy!

Day 8- Frail. There’s nothing more frail than the emotions of a toddler. They can go from happy to sad and back again in a blink of an eye. I’m so happy my own kids are out of this stage!!

Day 9- Swing. Tarzan swinging from limb to limb while Jane (and pet monkey) gaze up adoringly. In this I experimented with using the TV Guide as a backdrop.

Day 11- Pattern. Above the highway as seen from a chain link fence. This was inspired by a photo I took while I was on a morning run going over I-270 in Columbus.

Day 11- Snow. This is made to depict a totem pole in the Alaskan woods with snow beginning to fall. With this day’s prompt I was thinking of all the remote places in the world where it snows.

Day 12- Dragon. This is a quick ink drawing of my version of a Chinese Dragon. I tried to keep it fun and loose.

Day 13- Ash. A burnt out tree with new life forming beneath it. I was thinking of what happens when there are forest fires and the new life that grows out of the ashes.

Day 14- Overgrown. This was from a morning walk with my dog. I peered into a creek bed and there was a hawk just sitting there, blending into his surroundings.

It hasn’t always been easy to find the time to do these drawings and often I feel guilty for not getting my “real work” done as I’m doing them. But I’ve found that they’ve put an entirely different patina on my life right now.

They’ve made me stretch my mind and artistic skills in ways that I could never have imagined. Plus, I am so happy when I am doing them!

I would love to hear your opinions- your favorites and not-so-favorites as well!

In the meantime, I’ll be creating more. I’m a few days behind and hoping to catch up as time, and my creative mind, allows.

Inktober- Week 1

For the 2nd year in a row, I am participating in a drawing challenge called Inktober. Inktober is a month long art challenge created by artist Jake Parker that is focused on improving skills and developing positive drawing habits. Every day for the month of October anyone participating in the Inktober challenge creates an ink drawing and posts it online.

Here are the week’s worth of drawings and the prompts that sparked them. Enjoy!

Day 1- Ring. I had a vision of a Mexican Church ringing it’s bells in the style of a Mexican Muralist.

Day 2- Mindless. A quick watercolor sketch of ducklings mindlessly following their mother. Reminds me of my own kids!

Day 3- Bait. I’ll do anything for a handful of peanut M&Ms! My son who is a Disney lover but loves chocolate posed for this picture. As his shirt says, he’s a True Original!

Day 4- Frozen. Inspired by a photograph on my studio bulletin board. Would that I could unfreeze it and see you again, Dad.

Day 5- Build. I had so much with this one! It was like playing with blocks of paper.

Day 6- Husky. The unforgettable, husky voice of Janis Joplin. The anniversary of her death was just this past October 4th, 49 years ago!

Day 7- Enchantment. I’m a big fan of Day of the Dead imagery, and I thought having a skeleton band in that style might be a fun way to depict the word.

So there you have it. Week one. I’m having a lot of fun with it while allowing myself to be creative both with the subjects and the styles.

Which one is your favorite and why?

I look forward to bringing you more drawings next week!

Exhibit At First Commonwealth Bank

Standing in front of a few of my paintings at First Commonwealth

Last January I got wonderful news from the Ohio Art League- my work was accepted to be exhibited at First Commonwealth Bank in the Short North Arts District. Not only that, but I would also have a reception for it at the district’s monthly Gallery Hop.

I was very excited and given the choice of a few months, I picked September.

The months went by quickly, and soon it was time for me to hang my show. What an adventure that was! There was ample space but many different sized walls, even a curved one!

Window shot of my exhibit from the street.

After two days, and lots of measuring and remeasuring (measure twice, nail once- was my motto!), my show was up. I even put up a table with cards and prints.

A few days later I arrived back for the Gallery Hop. The tellers at the bank were wonderful. They set out cookies, juice, and even a popcorn machine for all my guests. And a DJ! He was a friend of theirs who wanted to drum up some business, while providing me with a great ambiance.

I was so happy to see many familiar faces. My family came, many friends, and lots of people off the street. It was such a wonderful night!

My show will be up for a little while longer. It goes down at the end of September. First Commonwealth Bank is located at 647 N. High St. The hours there are Mon.-Thurs. 9-5, Fri. 9-6, and Sat. 10-noon.

Please catch it while you can!

MOVING FORWARD

IF YOU DON’T GO AFTER YOU WANT, YOU’LL NEVER HAVE IT.

“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.”

— Nora Roberts

This quote was my lifeline when I first began my artist journey in 2012. I had so many fears. What if I can’t draw anymore? What if no one likes my work? What if I fail?

But underlying that was an overwhelming ache to create and BE an artist, not just dabble in it as I had for the many years that I had put it aside to raise my kids.

Soon after I took the leap, I found this quote and it seemed to reach out and grab me:

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never find it.

I can’t imagine going through life not being able to pursue my artistic voice. I had to go after it.

If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

I couldn’t do it alone. I had to seek help from other professionals and artists to learn what I needed to know to succeed. I can’t tell you how scary that was. (and still is!) What if they rejected me?

The more I reached out, the more I found a welcoming, supportive community, with more yes’s than no’s.

If you don’t step forward, you’ll always be in the same place.

Creating my art business took many leaps of faith. Constant leaps of faith. I had to make countless decisions and branch out in ways I never imagined.

If I don’t step forward, nothing happens. But what is the fun in that?

Does this quote speak to you as well? What has been holding you back?