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• Made 7 new pieces of pottery inspired by my story.
• Finished the art journal I started earlier this summer with my writer's group by adding collages based on my story.
• Finished an art journal I started three years ago by writing poetry connected to my story. (Yes, three years is a long time for one journal, I know, I know.)
• Practiced drawing the horses that were part of my story.
• Went through a stack of magazines for new pictures and ideas for writing prompts that I can keep using next year for my story.
• And yes . . . I wrote 19,252 words of my NaNoWriMo story! Not so bad, after all.

• I now have enough greenware to fill my kiln for a bisque firing.
• Finishing my art journals got rid of my guilt at neglecting them and boosted my energy. And I love having collages to go with my plot, characters, and settings.
• I've won plenty of NaNoWriMos over the years to know I can do it, but now I also know when to say "no." A very good lesson.
• And it was still fun to participate, even on a minor scale. I enjoyed following the progress of other writers and encouraging them to continue. I was part of a writing community and it was a good place to be.

• Prior to the challenge, my daily drawings were solely for practice, nothing fancy, just simple sketches no one but me would see. However, InkTober required that I post my drawings every day on social media--eek. I therefore had to explore subjects that could be drawn up in 30 minutes or less yet still appear finished. My most successful efforts turned out to be small sketches of Taiwan based on my photos from my trip last year, and studies of trees drawn with a distinct Asian influence. In other words, I found a voice and method I liked.
• Sticking to ink-only was a challenge in itself. I craved variety. Even though I often added color from other mediums to my drawings (mainly watercolor background washes) it was difficult to stay so rigidly adhered to one type of drawing tool. The day the challenge was over I threw myself into oil pastels, charcoal, graphite--anything but ink! Consequently, I learned I am for sure a "mixed-media" artist, a good piece of knowledge if I ever need to describe my artist-self in a professional manner.
• One of the more trivial things encouraging me to take up the challenge in the first place was that I wanted to use up a sketchbook I didn't like. (Out of the negative, find the positive!) There really was nothing wrong with this particular book--it was filled with cold-press watercolor pages and quite expensive--but I just never jelled with it. It order to get it out of my life and stick with my daily plan, I decided to just draw on those expensive pages and the heck with results. This approach turned out to be a lot of fun--especially as I could never truly control the lines my pen made due to all the natural irregularities common to watercolor paper. So rather than waste the book or leave it to molder over the years, I used it, enjoyed it--and now have a good record of my InkTober experience.
• Finally, as much as I often resisted using that particular sketchbook (some days I just had to go back to my old favorites) the "bad sketchbook" allowed for two new drawing styles to emerge. The first contained a child-like whimsical quality, with the second being a loose and easy "just get the idea down" style. Both of these could be great for illustrating children's picture books, and I definitely plan to explore them further.

Jiufen Tea House, Taiwan

I was supposed to be practicing drawing horses, but zebras were more fun.

Taipei residential neighborhood.

Dreaming on a Sunday.

Portugal seaside. Fun to travel by pen!

Into the Woods. Day 31 of #Inktober2016.

It's the last day of Inktober, so here is my final offering. Happy Halloween everyone!

Maritime Mansion. Day 30 of #Inktober2016.

Housing Development. Day 29 of #Inktober2016.

Poor Children. Day 28 of #Inktober2016.

Today's Inktober is a little different - an extra illustration for a current book project, a new edition of Frank L. Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. This was a 'warm-up' drawing to get me in the groove and test nibs, so a little rough and ready, though often first drawings have an energy that re-draws somehow miss! Unfortunately, although there are several sections featuring children it doesn't quite fit with any specific passage in the book, so I've not submitted it to the publisher with the other cuts.

I can show it here though!

Ogre. Day 27 of #Inktober2016.

Split Ends. Day 26 of #Inktober2016.

Birds and Trees. Day 25 of #Inktober2016.

Aide-de-Cramp. Day 24 of #Inktober2016.

Tangled Relationship. Day 23 of #Inktober2016.

Tank Bike. Day 22 of #Inktober2016.

Ponderer. Day 21 of #Inktober2016.

Round the Neighbourhood. Day 20 of #Inktober2016.

Suburb Slant. Day 19 of #Inktober2016.

Neighbour. Day 17 of #Inktober2016.

Autumn. Day 17 of #Inktober2016.

Day 15 of #Inktober2016. Last night's sketchbook while half-watching the telly.

Day 15 of #Inktober2016.

Day 14 of #Inktober2016.

Day 13 of #Inktober2016.