Tangle Patterns, Botanicals and Blogging, Oh My!

Ever the overachiever, I decided to dive into Inktober for the first time this year and to also dive into the Ultimate Blog Challenge which I participated in for the first time in 2012. I figured if I am going to be drawing daily and sharing on social media, it’s not that much harder to share it on my blog, right? Crazy? Maybe. Given that participating in Inktober 2018 is for fun and practice, not for business and I have a lot brewing in my business for this fall I might be taking on a bit much.

If I disappear, you might understand why…

What is Inktober?

If you are not familiar with Inktober, creator Jake Parker started it as a challenge to himself to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. Since the first challenge in 2009,  it has grown like crazy. Now “artists all over the world are taking on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month.” I know that I can learn to draw better by daily practice and am hoping that this challenge will help me to make drawing part of a regular art practice. I love to paint and my paintings will get better if I learn to draw better. Makes sense, right? Drawing isn’t as much fun for me as painting but I am committed to improving, so here we go!

My Inktober Prompts for 2018

While Jake Parker creates a list of prompts to inspire your inking, many other artists also share prompts. I looked at a few different lists and decided to tackle two. It’s only day 6 and I am on track so far, but we will see how I do and if I can keep up with two prompts per day.

I have been trying to get creative and combine the two prompts. Zentangle® which is a meditative form of drawing using repetitive patterns is one of my favorite ways to relax, so I chose to dive into #inktobertangles2018 and use the tangle pattern prompts created by Stephanie Jennifer here.

I am also wanting to get better at drawing botanicals, so I chose to follow Louise Gale’s botanical prompts, too.

Today is Saturday and I am looking forward to playing with these prompts and seeing how I can combine them event more. My attempts so far have been okay. I have been having fun. Focusing on enjoying the drawing and not judging the outcome. As I shared in my last post, detachment is one of the secrets to leaning into the creative process and staying connected to the joy of drawing rather than the frustration of “It doesn’t look like it’s supposed to!”

What creative pursuits are you up to lately?