Happy Halloween!

     Not sure how her big brother is going to get her up those steps, but someone told him that this house was giving away king-sized candy bars. Maybe he hasn't noticed the eyes in the window.

Swingin' Through Life - More Inktober

This was inspired by the Inktober prompt - SWING

I did the first one (below) in ink with micron pens.

And I also did something sweet and simple for the prompt - ENCHANTED

     Someday I'm going to grab my art and writing supplies and run away to a cabin in the woods at the beginning of October. I'm going to have the time, with no distractions, to do an Inktober prompt every day.  I'll remain in that cabin through the month of November when I'll participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'll crank out a book or two before returning in early December to a fully decorated home with all the necessary gifts already beautifully wrapped beneath the tree and a large plate of cookies baked by my husband (though a good cook, he's never baked a cookie in his life) who has been waiting patiently for my return. Aaahhhh . . . someday.

Inktober Week One

What if little Stevie had not answered his Fisher Price telephone the day it rang for him?

I like to at least dip my toes in the waters of Inktober, and do a few of the daily prompts. Above is Inktober 1st and below is Inktober 4th.

Magic Bookcase

This is set to be the month of November in my calendar. The leaves will disappear. 

The world turns cold and gray. What better time for the magic of books?

This piece started in my 2012 Sketch-A-Day book (heaven's sakes I loved that book and why haven't I got myself another?) to illustrate the word - EXPLORE.

I went on to do this next piece a few years later:

And the one at the top is just me saying (as per usual) "I can do better."

I Love September

     This is my newest version of September and it has come a long way.

The originals were on my blog in September of 2015. You can click HERE to give them a peek.

I wanted to rework it for my calendar into a piece more related to children's illustration.

The first day I pulled it back out to work on I ended up with this:

Then this:

There were things about it I liked, but all in all I considered it a hot mess. I stewed on it for a couple of weeks, then had the idea to add the sunshine. Since this is digital and was in several layers I added the sunburst over the background layer but behind the tree layer and it all just popped! I scrapped the first girl and puppy and started over, eventually giving up all the work I had put into the picnic items. It's not an easy thing to throw work away but if it's not working, you just have to let it go.  

U F O

This is a cool, digitally altered photo I found online to go with the following bit of very short flash fiction I recently wrote (below) for a prompt shared with my writing group.

UFO

     They hold hands, staring at the ceiling as sweat evaporates from their bodies. They’ve been married 27 years and have never made love with such ferocity, nor at the same time, with so much tenderness that both of them had cried.
     At last she speaks. “What have you heard?”
     He answers as though in a trance. “Everything is in chaos.”
     “But, what did you hear?”
     He turns on his side to face her.
     “I saw the president speak. He gave a prayer.”
     “I saw that too! I nearly came unglued when he cried.”
     “What?! He cried?”
     “Right after his prayer.”
     “I didn’t get that far. Several of us at the office were hovering around one computer. I was crowded out, but I’d seen and heard enough. I just wanted to get home to you.” He brushes her hair out of her eyes and pulls her closer. “Have you spoken to the kids?”
     She shakes her head. “Everything went off after the speech. There’s no television, no phone, no internet.” She shudders and her breath accelerates. She’s falling apart and nothing can stop it from happening.
     “I can’t reach my babies!” she wails.
     “Shhhhh.” Her husband holds her, rocks her, tries to maintain his own sanity for both their sakes.
     She eventually rolls away from him and reaches for an old tissue on the nightstand. “What do you think they want?”
     “I’ve no idea, my love.”
     He moves until he’s behind her. He wraps his arms around her middle, her back to his chest, her warmth against a terrible coldness closing in on him. Two people alone in a world of seven billion people, who are also alone.

   
     I read this to my group last week and as I neared the end I heard my friend Brenda catch her breath. As he "moved behind her" she thought he was going to wrap his multiple arms around her!!!  Haha! That would have been a great way to end it!