Inktober

Dad used to say, when I didn’t get my way, “tough tomatoes, kid.” That’s what’s being honored here. In black and white.

As with just about everything nowadays, there’s a bit of controversy around the original movement (Inktober). Copywright infringement and the like. Not cool stuff in the art world. But at its heart, I find this practice to be super cool. A reset, a ritual and a discovery. Every October, I aim to ink it up.

In 2025, I learned that it took a very short amount of time for me to crave color. I needed it like air. Not realizing its importance to me, this annual exercise showed my need and passion for it like a prism to a spectrum. Those tomatoes (pictured above) should have been red - a bit of orange and maybe yellow where the light hits them just right. And I may go back and color them such. But I tried to keep it pure. Pen and ink. It lasted about a week. The drawing below depicts the session when I couldn’t take it anymore and busted out the markers.

A gal communing with a bird and wearing a crown should not be depicted merely in black and white. I felt better. Even though (or maybe because) I broke the “rules.”

Every project reveals something. This one, last year, showed me that I’m inspired by color. Maybe that I even need it to feel whole.

I will do this exercise again come October. We’ll see what shows itself to me when the ink hits the substrate. Grab a sketchbook and maybe do the same. I’ll be right there with you. Challenging myself to see how long I can “speak” in only black and white.