Here is the final week of Inktober. I had every intension of finishing Inktober this year and I even came close. Tragedy struck my family, however, and a silly little drawing challenge seemed so inconsequential.

I am really proud of the progress I’ve made this October. Once I started to use sepia ink, I feel like my work gained an extra layer of depth that I really enjoy. I left it until the very last painting, but I finally used my red ink. I’ve had it sitting around for nearly a year and it took just that long to work up the nerve to use it. I’m really happy with the result. Since the color is a very vibrant red, I mixed it with black to tone it down.

Next year I have plans on incorporating more color. I bought a blue ink while at an art store recently and would have bought a yellow too, but they were out. There isn’t any rush anyway, I’ll probably save the ink for next October.

While at the art store I also bought some Dr. Ph Martin Bombay Pen Cleaner. Don’t buy it. It works well, but it is literally expensive glass cleaner. It looks, smells, and works exactly like Windex. The only difference is that it is $3 for a tiny bottle. You can buy a huge bottle of glass cleaner for the same price.

On the last day of October, the two skulls I ordered from Amazon came in. I got a fox and a weasel. I’m excited to include them in next years collection. Comparing the weasel I bought to the broken skull I found confirms to me that the found skull is in fact a weasel. It’s quite a bit smaller that the bought one, but it could have been young or just the difference between breeds.

I’m not entirely sure what the next project will be. After everything, I’m at a loss. Maybe I’ll start working with gouache again. Or I have some watercolor I haven’t really used. We’ll see. In January I have plans to do a 30 day oil painting challenge.