I know, it’s really supposed to be “Inktober”…

But I really wasn’t crazy about the prompts list for this year, and I didn’t feel like making up my own. No offense, you understand. I just wasn’t crazy about them.So I took my favorite panda notebook with me when I went to have my car checked for transmission leaks. I figured I’d be there for a couple of hours, and I can’t stand to wait anywhere for very long without something I can draw on. One of the things I love about this notebook is that there are different cartoon pandas on the pages, and I like to use them in random illustrations.So I took the opportunity to finish an illustration I had started a few days before, adding the part about the Honda place in honor of this newly acquired “Big Girl” ability. (For more info on this, you can read “The Art of Being “Big Girl” Part 1 and Part 2.)So I decided to think about “Inktober”, which I participated in last year for the first time. Last year I used my sketch book and put two drawings on each page to save space, since some of the pages were reserved for my famous “ABC Animals” journal. This time I thought, how about making a sort of “square per day” Inktober drawing? I was inspired by Jill Kuhn at “Jill’s Art Journal”, who shared some of her “square per day” creations. Click HERE to see Jill’s September “square a day” art.Okay, so I got my grid drawn at the Honda place, and the next day, after getting my car back, I went to get a snack and start drawing. Immediately it became apparent that I was not going to just do one square per day, and that I was not going to do them in order. Instead I worked on this whenever I felt like it, and some days I didn’t work on it at all.After a few days I had some of the squares done. I tried to draw the first image that popped into my head for each prompt, but for some of them, nothing popped in. (Did I mention I wasn’t crazy about this years prompts?) So, I left those for last. This whole time I was working with pencil. I’ll go over them with ink when I’m done, I thought. It is “INKtober” after all, right?Yay! It’s done, even though it’s still in pencil. It’s kind of hard to photograph pencil drawings, so I had to hit “Auto Correct” on this one and that gave the photo somewhat of a bluish hue at the bottom. But, it was that or take way too long photographing and editing in search of perfection, which, at this moment does not sound fun to me. (Just a little “truth-in-blogging” for you there.)I thought some of the squares might need a bit of explanation, so let me break it down for you. Days 1-4 are probably self explanatory. For Day 5, “Build”, the only thing I could think of was little kids playing with Legos. On Day 6, that is supposed to be an actual husky. Looking over a fence. (You knew that, though, right?) For Day 8, “Frail” the only image that popped into my head was a little old lady, which I wasn’t EVEN going to try drawing in a tiny square, plus it also seemed rude somehow. So I decided on leaves, which can be frail when they are dry and wafting to the ground in the wind.The prompt for Day 12 was “Dragon”, which, A) I didn’t feel like drawing and B) I didn’t know how to draw anyway,  so I decided on a dragonfly. Now look at Day 13. Seriously I’m supposed to draw “Ash”? So I made it into a Fresno ash tree. In fact that’s what “fresno” means in Spanish: “ash tree”. I used to have fun with that one, making my Spanish students laugh by specifying “That’s ash TREE, not ash TRAY!” And one comment on Day 15, “Legend”. The only thing I could think of was the legend on a map, and no, that is not a piece of bacon, it’s a road. Just saying.It took me a long time to think up something for Day 16, “Wild”. Then finally I thought, “Of course, wild mushrooms!” Whether you were “raised by Swedes” and are as a result over cautious about everything, or you just have average common sense, you know you should never eat wild mushrooms. So there. For Day 19 they want you to draw “Sling”. All I could think of was a sling shot, or a sling like for a broken arm, and I didn’t feel like drawing either of those. So I just made it into “word art”. For Day 21, “Treasure”, I figured a treasure map was the way to go. I didn’t want to do anything related to Halloween, but the little kid with a sheet on was the only image I could come up with for Day 22, “Ghost”.And finally, we come to Days 26-31. (Which it haven’t even BEEN yet, if you’re reading this the day it’s posted.) For Day 28, “Ride”, I was inspired by Foster and Panda’s recent trip to the Washington State fair with their friends Tiger and Benji from Cats and Trails and Garden Tales. Day 29, “Injured”, was inspired by the fact that Day 19 was really supposed to have been a sling. And Day 31, “Ripe”, by the fact that I cannot stand bananas that are overly ripe. So there you have it. Several sandwiches and we won’t count the coffees later, “Inktober 2019” is now done! Of course, it’s all done in pencil, but let’s just say I took a little “artistic license” with it. Sounds fair to me. And while we’re in the panda notebook, let’s take a peek at some of the other doodles that can be found in there.It’s important to remind ourselves of this on a daily basis.This too…The question is, “Do you speak Punjabi?” I’m not saying I do; it’s the “half” in my “two-and-a-half” languages, that’s it. But I can write the alphabet now, which makes me pretty happy.Sometimes you have more bamboo than you know what to do with. (Said NO panda EVER!)If you are feeling sad, you can always have a “Big Girl ” contest and Foster and Panda will vote you the winner!Then you can settle down for a nice afternoon of working on your blog!