inktober: a challenge to create an ink drawing every day in October and post it.

This is today’s drawing, a small island in a lake. I didn’t fill in the distant hills for two reasons: I didn’t know how to do it so that they stayed in the background and then I ran out of time.

This drawing was inspired by a photo called Spirit Island by Gabriel Perelman found on Unsplash. It reminds me of lakes in northern Ontario. My Grandfather used to take us by boat to visit small islands for blueberry picking. He was familiar with every island in the waterway and knew which ones were privately owned, which were public and where the best picking was.

Another good memory of the north.

Painting

Another bear. This powerful fellow was painted a few years ago.

It was a black brown bear – brown bears come in black too, but they are a different type from black bears. I chose to paint him in blue for no real reason, it just seemed right.

Temari – Phoenix Rising

This ball was made many years ago and is definitely not a traditional Japanese design. It is my interpretation of the myth of the phoenix, that dies in fire and is reborn from the ashes. As a symbol of rejuvenation or rebirth the phoenix story fascinated me.

This temari is not round but egg shaped. The phoenix is on one side of the temari.

The back of the temari is crisscrossed with gold cord. Each intersection of the cord has a green glass bead. I was trying for a Faberge Egg look. The bottom of the egg has the traditional Japanese stitch kiku in reds and oranges to represent the fire’s flame.

 

This ball has been in shows several times over the years. I could of sold it once but couldn’t give it up.