Inktober - the final few

Hello all!  If you fancy some really vibrant colour, don't miss my Love this Life tag trio, but for now I'm back with the last three Inktober line and wash paintings.  31 is an awkward number, but that's the number of days in October, so we're stuck with it!  As usual, I'm not going to hang around long at the top of the post.  I'll let the last few paintings speak for themselves... 

... but below that I'm sharing just a few process photos from the month so that you can see some of the different ways I went about conquering my fear of drawing. 

Day 29

Day 30 

Day 31

One of my reasons for taking up the Inktober challenge was that I'm still wary of the whole drawing thing.  I'm much more comfortable with painting.  But there was a time (and not so very long ago - only a couple of years) when making my own marks with paint was also scary and unsatisfactory, and I found my way to more confidence and more proficiency by ignoring the wobbles and just doing it... especially by doing it daily - you learn so much.

There were some days when I started out with the paints - doing a loose watercolour of whatever my subject for the day was, and often that made me so happy that I would be worried about adding the pen work in case I spoiled it.  

But the Inktober is really a drawing challenge so I made myself add the pen detailing, and more often than not I loved the result!

As the month drew on, I started to get more confident - exactly as I hoped - and in the last couple of weeks my method was to start with the drawing far more often.  And by late October I had got to the point where I enjoyed some of the drawings so much I was worried that I might spoil them by adding the paint... that's a pretty dramatic shift for me!  After the paint, I would often add a few more pen and paint details together to finish things off. 

 

There were still times I started with loose watercolour sketches, but now I was more confident that I would enjoy the pen stage too.

So the challenge I set myself - despite being in the early stages of sorting my life and starting to pack it up at the same time - really paid off.  And of course having that time set aside for creativity each day was one of the things which helped keep me sane through the packing process too.

I will definitely be making time for both drawing and painting in my new life - I know there's lots more to discover and new fears to conquer.  I hope to keep learning and growing and building confidence, because I'm always happiest on a learning curve!

If you'd like to see the whole progression, here are the links for Week 1, for Week 2, for Week 3, for Week 4.

I hope you are finding ways to keep learning and growing despite the chaotic times we are living through.  Thanks so much for your company on this journey and for your amazing comments on all my Inktober work - it's been really heartwarming and helpful to hear your feedback.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I'll see you again soon.  Happy crafting all!

It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover, to your surprise, that you have rendered something in its true character.
Camille Pissarro 

Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see - to see correctly - and that means a good deal more than merely looking with the eye.
Kimon Nikolaides

I'd like to join in the fun at Paint Party Friday with these - it's time for the Year 10, Week 38 Check In over there