Squash by any other name...

Today's prompt was "pumpkin latte." I must confess I have never had one, mainly because of the mixed messages around its contents. Some people scoff at my ignorance and say,

"There's not really pumpkin in it, it's just the spices you use to make pumpkin pie!"

which statement I find reassuring, because I dislike pumpkin—the taste, the texture, everything about it (along with every kind of squash except raw zucchini)—but am enamored of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and the like.

Then others come back and respond,

"Why do you think they call it pumpkin latte? Of course there's pumpkin in it! How ignorant are you?"

which makes me determined never to darken that door.

That doesn't mean, however, that I can't paint a respectable cup of it, covered in whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon, to give those who love it the warm fuzzies. I hope you enjoy my sketch, even if the reality of the concoction is as repugnant to you as it is to me!

 

"Pumpkin Latte"—Uniball pen, watercolors, in Bee sketchbook, 9x9 inches.

Painting with ink

I've never been fond of drawing. I know that sounds like a strange thing for an artist to say, but to me drawing has always been a means to an end, which is to create either a blueprint or a package for painting, depending on whether I'm painting over the lines or defining the subject with them. For me, it's always about the color. For that reason, I have never really excelled at drawing: I can do a great contour line, but when it comes to shading or cross-hatching or any of the other means of filling in the shadows and solids in a drawing, I am woefully amateur.

For that reason, I have never enjoyed (or participated beyond a few days in) the Inktober challenge, because it's all about the drawing, and the people who excel at that produce such amazing works of art with nothing but a pen that it stymies the rest of us who haven't developed that skill.

But...I recently learned this technique of delineating with a pen and then using a wet paintbrush to paint with the ink I just laid down, and both the challenge of it and the finished look appeal to the painter in me while allowing me to work a little more on my drawing skills. So when Olga Furman decided to do an Inktober for portraitists, I decided I could participate if I could use the ink in my own way.

The first black-and-white reference photo she supplied was that of Sinéad O'Connor, the Irish musician, and you could scarcely find someone with cleaner lines, especially with the minimalist heart-shaped hairline of her shaved head. This is a mature Sinéad, with some gray coming in at the sides and slightly fuller cheeks than in her youth, but still with an amazingly spare jawline and few to no lines in her face. Previously, the faces on which I have used this technique have been older, with scores and wrinkles and blemishes of various kinds that can be highlighted to advantage, so painting this clean example required a certain delicacy, sometimes using only the ink on the brush to draw, rather than putting in lines that don't actually exist. But I think I captured her likeness. I couldn't resist adding a little color, particularly because although her eyes look so dark in the photo, they are in life a clear deep blue that picks up nicely with the aid of a blue jacket.

"Sinéad"—Uniball pen and water in Bee Mixed Media sketchbook, 9x9 inches, with cobalt and ultramarine spot watercolor.

#OlgaInktober2021

OCTOBER

For some reason, the month of October has become THE month to do drawing and painting challenges. First there was Inktober (an ink drawing every day for 31 days), and then everyone else in the world piled on—the watercolorists, the gouache guys, now even the portrait people have decided it might be fun to do a drawing a day.

I have never been a fan of just ink, because I'm all about the color. So this year I have decided to follow not one, not two, but FOUR different prompt lists, jumping between them as I find one more appealing than the rest! Nate and Salli at theydraw.com have decided to furnish three of their own—one for travel, one for food, and one for gardening—to go with their triple-themed website of illustrators' works. And Olga Furman and Sktchy are both doing 31 days of portrait sketches. Just what I like—variety!

Here is the first prompt from #theydrawtober, in the food category. I have a feeling I may be doing quite a few of these, since I love illustrating food and recipes and can think of creative things to do with them. The travel one is kind of daunting, selecting an entire island for each day's prompt, and while you can whittle down Cuba, for example, to a few iconic and symbolic scribbles, it's harder with islands with which you aren't familiar—where the heck are the Whitsunday Islands, and for what are they renowned?! The third list, 31 flowers in 31 days, may also prompt some fun sketches, and when I get tired of all this, it's back to portraits.

Speaking of Cuba...I decided to try a quick and messy one from 31 Islands, 'cause I love all the old American gas guzzler cars they still drive—not good for air quality, but you can't beat them for personality.

Whatever the list, I'm going to try for a piece of work every day in October. Because that, after all, is what the challenge is about!