INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.8

Hello Inkers!

I hope your week was full of good things, inky and non-inky alike. I loved fishing around in the hashtag for last week’s prompt and seeing what everyone was doing, and it’s amazing to me that there were fantastic examples at all skill levels. I know it’s tempting to feel like we need to compare ourselves to others or merit our participation in things but I loved seeing talent and beauty in a large range of experience.

I attended a book club last night. We are new to the state and some lovely new friends have taken me in and made me feel so welcome, that when they invited me to this book club, I had to say yes. The problem? Historically, I’m not enough of a grownup to be a part of a book club. When people start discussing character arch and conflict and all of that in a very serious way, I get the giggles. Everyone else is having a great intelligent exchange and I’m over here, fighting for my life trying not to let on that I’m basically a giant child. Last night was different and the conversation was actually wonderful and applied to real life situations with only one hiccup: I didn’t finish the book. So yes, once again I found myself at a book club, pretending I belonged there. I did pretty well while they were talking about the part I had read, but had to do some serious nodding and looking contemplative when they moved on to the rest of the book. I was tempted to feel like I cheated my way in the door but then found out there were like 5 of us that didn’t finish. Whew!

I may not have done as much to prepare as some of my friends, and I may not be on their same level of understanding about some things, but I had a dang-good time because it was a subject I enjoyed and I felt loved by the people I was with. And there were treats! (hello, raspberry rolls)

I’ve heard from some participants of Inktober that they feel like pretenders because maybe they don’t have the same skill level as others or they ran out of time on a particular prompt. Don’t worry about it! The goal isn’t to have the “best” example of the prompt or to be featured in our newsletter or stories, the goal is to draw, to improve, and to find friends who lift you up (and to turn around and do that for others.) You’ve got this!

And maybe when all else fails, make some raspberry rolls and try again next week.

-Alison

#inktober52 #inktober52pretend

Our Favorite TRAPPED drawings:

Clockwise from top-left: @silvana_blackink_art, @shawnellian, @leishashaa, @jmflores216, @mnemonisch, @giochimitsu, @mentat0209, @timidite.art, @magnus.art.design, @designs.by.parth, @doodlesbywei, @lita426t

See the latest drawings here: #Inktober52 #Inktober52trapped

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INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.6

Hello Inkers!

I loved seeing your Grannys! I spent the week enjoying your beautiful art and perfecting my old-lady qualities like quilting and talking to strangers and buying antique mixing bowls. (If Jake asks, those bowls were to fully immerse myself in the Inktober Granny experience. Despite what he says, I am not addicted.)

Early on this week, I was running to the grocery store with my 15-year-old to pick up a few things to perk up my weekly menu. Our local store is small but close, so we stopped there and as we entered the nearly-empty produce room, Penny whispered “Hey, isn’t that Larry?”

Two things you need to know: 1- Larry is our cheerful, older, across-the-street neighbor, who we’ve really enjoyed getting to know since we moved in a few months ago. Larry, and his sweet wife, Brenda, are awesome. 2-The produce room has an “in” door and an “out” door and is very compact.

We walk through the “in” door and are standing about 10 feet from Larry so I a-little-too-loudly exclaim, “Larry! How’s it going?” About halfway through this sentence leaving my mouth, Penny and I both realize it is indeed, Not Larry. My question ends in sort of a cough-choke and I can hear all the air leave Penny’s lungs in horror. Zero other people are in the produce room so Not Larry looks up and gives me a weird “I’ve gotta be polite” smile. He does not say “Oh, you may have me mistaken for someone else.” and I do not say “Oops sorry, you look like my neighbor.” No, that would be the normal thing to do. I can’t just turn around and leave, I’m trapped, so I march right ahead like I’m not the most awkward human ever born. The problem with this, is the room is so small that now it looks like I’m walking right AT Not Larry. You should also know, I’m not a small person; I’ve got a good 6 inches on Not Larry, I’ve got my “Elmo coat” on (an ankle-length, hooded, bright red puffer coat that makes me look like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon,) and we’ve already established I’m crazy here, so the look on his face starts to hover somewhere around “Do I run?”

I quickly scoot past Not Larry, grab 2 or 3 of the first veggies I come to, and flee like the coward I am, with Penny scurrying to keep up. We giggle like mad and hide near the mayonnaise for a moment to compose ourselves, but when we finally pull ourselves together enough to turn the corner and continue on, who do I nearly collide with? Yep, Not Larry. I’m pretty sure a very loud “GAH!” comes out of my mouth at the same time I hear Not Larry gasp. I don’t even think I said “excuse me”, I just swerve around him and high-tail it out of there, running for my life, leaving Penny to fend for herself. I’m now charging down the aisles like a giant, red-sleeping-bag-wearing maniac in the Food Lion, trying to remember what’s on my list but not really caring, I just want OUT of this store. Penny finally catches up and we pay for our stuff but not before having to hide from Not Larry two more times. I have never been so happy to be FREE of a grocery store.

As we’re power-walking through the parking lot towards our crusty old Suburban, humiliation still rising off me in waves, Penny turns back and, because she likes to see me squirm, yells out “Bye, Larry!”

Now, you may not be a weirdo like me, and you may not often find yourself in self-imposed peril, (like the time I got myself stuck in the ice room at Circle K,) but I’d love to your idea of TRAPPED. It can be literal, metaphorical, light-hearted or serious, but push yourself to expand your skills and share it with someone.

Love you all, and if a big red sleeping bag lady calls you Barbara this week, it’s probably just me.

-Alison

#inktober52 #inktober52trapped

Our Favorite GRANNY drawings:

Clockwise from top-left: @ginger_tripper, @davisraph, @cat.stuff_illustrations, @art_abordo, @chrisblazenart, @donnamyzzza, @eliart_illustration, @drawnwithink, @evgeniiafi_art

See the latest drawings here: #Inktober52 #Inktober52granny

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INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.6

Hello Inkers!

Hope your week was good and crunchy! Our ice is all starting to melt and I made it through without breaking a hip so life is pretty great over here. (I think as I age, that’s my new litmus test for success.)

Other than keeping all my joints functioning, I have a plan. Someday, when I’m old(er) and gray(er) and all my kids have moved out, I’m going to be Granny. Not just a grandmother, but a Granny. I want to be that lady who has too many flowers in her yard, who teaches kids how to bake the best chocolate chip cookies, who spends her free time making baby quilts to give away, who wears way too many colors at once just because she can, who waves to babies and talks to all the strangers in the grocery store line about how their day is going, who attends water aerobics every week in her giant flowery, skirted swimsuit, and who wears big floppy hats while harvesting fruits from the garden before turning them into more jam than she’ll ever need. That’s the plan. (Pretty sure I’m 70% of the way there already.)

Have you met someone like this? I’ve met lots of different Grannys and taken mental note of attributes sometimes to store away in my profile of the perfect Granny life. (I’ve also stored away notes of things to remember not to do. I’m looking at you, tinfoil on the airport toilet seats.)

My Granny, Marie, wasn’t like my goal-Granny at all but she was her own kind of awesome for the 97 years she was alive. She swam in the ocean and played lots of Rumikub and told the best stories and called her grandkids “sweetie.” I think if I turn out to be a Granny like her, that wouldn’t be bad either. It’s her birthday this week and to celebrate, I’m probably going to cheat at cards or eat ice cream while watching a Hallmark movie in her honor.

I’d love to see your ideas this week for “Granny.” Not necessarily the Grandmother you have, but maybe one you’ve met or one from your imagination. In any case, think we can all agree the world could use a few more Grannys these days.

“Love you, sweetie!”

-Alison Marie

Our Favorite CRUNCH drawings:

Clockwise from top-left: @_pierox_, @f_aartt, @jmflores216, @joelramd_art, @nub_arts, @ozurian.art, @poni49art, @the.angelic.artist, @zink.hall

See the latest drawings here: #Inktober52 #Inktober52granny

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INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.5

Hello Inkers!

We loved seeing all your “cozy” artwork and I have to say, I was unprepared for the number of ridiculously cute animals acting like people in your drawings. (The ostrich!) It seems like everyone is with us in the plan to hang out indoors, wrapped up, until the weather decides to play nice again. (Obviously not talking to you, Arizona.)

Well, the forecasted Snowpocalypse turned out to be more of an Icemageddon in our neck of the woods. We’re encased in a giant block of looks-like-snow but it’s rock solid and not going anywhere anytime soon. I was out late last night, walking a dog who is fully trained to do his “business” on grass/weeds/bushes, but who couldn’t find a single plant or patch of dirt not covered in ice. I was tempted to feel sorry for myself. I stood there, shivering and thinking unkind thoughts about my dog, following him from place to place as we looked for any sign of nature for him to feel comfortable doing his thing. “Over here?” …no, crunch, crunch, crunch went my boots on the ice... “This tree?” no, crunch, crunch, crunch… we walked another 100 yards in the biting winds to look for any living thing…crunch crunch crunch. I finally paid attention to the sound as I walked, enjoying the way the ice occasionally gave way under my boot. CRUNCH. I love that sound. I jumped up and down to see if I could make a dent. I looked at the ice all around me and marveled how it glistened and sparkled in the moonlight, how it made everything look so clean and fresh, how it silenced everything out here except for my crunch, crunch, crunch. Is it colder than I can stand? Yeah. Do I wish I could safely drive out of our neighborhood? You bet. Is social media filled with things about the world that make me sad? Sure it is. Have I already slipped and fallen twice on my backside in the last 2 days? You betcha (likely from all that jumping up and down.) But for now, in my little ridiculously cold world, for this very second, I can take a deep breath and enjoy the crunch and the glisten and sparkle and give thanks that I’m able to hear and see it.

Be safe (maybe don’t jump), be kind, and be artsy! Can’t wait to see your crunch.

-Alison

Our Favorite COZY drawings:

Clockwise from top-left: @magnus.art.design, @cuckoomoon.art, @martyoriginals, @overdude, @atomililja, @hedgehog_jan, @b_korotkii, @yesartistno, @poni49art

See the latest drawings here: #Inktober52 #Inktober52Crunch

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INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.4 IS “COZY”

Hello Inkers!

Hope you’ve had a beautifully art-full week wherever you are. Over here in Virginia, USA, we’re prepping for a storm. I’ve overheard snippets of conversations over the last day or two but it wasn’t until I heard the school receptionist reference “the blizzard of 1996” in a comment to her coworker (that I was totally eavesdropping on,) that I started to get that oh-dear feeling. Apparently, there’s a gully-whopper headed our way and since our county doesn’t plow the roads, this place is about to come to a standstill for a week or more. Being an emergency-preparedness junkie, I’m like a giant squirrel, making sure our nest is ready and full of snacks. My teenagers, who are anticipating a those snow-days off school, are preparing very differently. While I’m making sure the cars have gas, and the gutters are cleaned, they’ve got a full list of movies and piles of craft supplies on stand-by.

Even though I don’t love the face-stinging temperatures we’re headed for, I have to say I’m fully stoked for a few days filled with soup and sweatpants and fireplace smore’s and of course lots and lots of drawing (them, not me) in our cozy home. I hope it stays cozy for all of us. I hope the medical professionals and firefighters and linemen and all those other helpful souls stay safe and can find moments of cozy while they keep us all going. So, show us what cozy looks like to you. It might be a Lord of the Rings movie marathon in your Cookie Monster onsie or maybe you’ll be sipping cocoa while happily creating a masterpiece to gift to a friend. Whatever it means to you, I can’t wait to see what you do!

Happy drawing-

Alison

P.s. Because I’m a mom and I have a PhD in worrying, here’s a few ideas if you too are in the path of the storm:

-fill your car’s gas tank now

-don’t forget to check on your neighbors

-stock-up on essential medications, ready-to eat food, flashlights, water, firewood, and of course paper and ink!

Our Favorite GLIDE drawings:

See the latest drawings here: #Inktober52 #Inktober52SUNSET

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