Halloween

Happy Halloween and the last day of Inktober!

| Gina Lento

Today is Halloween and it is also the last day of Inktober. I can’t say that I am not glad to Inktober go. It was fun to do the prompts but tough to squeeze it in. I am happy it is Halloween and I am sad to know that it is the end of October.

There is a special treat today where I am adding a Halloween sketch along with the Inktober Sketch. Today’s Inktober prompt is “farm.”

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and we were in BJ’s Wholesale Club and they had turkeys already! They were reasonably priced so we bought ours and stuffed it in the freezer.

Now that we are coming into November, I will be running around doing my Thanksgiving dinner scavenger hunt, because that is pretty much what shopping for my Thanksgiving groceries turns into, especially now since the pandemic.

The scavenger hunt starts with which store has the stuffing bread (I make my stuffing fresh, I don’t use those premade bagged stuffings), Publix makes fresh stuffing bread and they will even cut it and cube it for me. I pick that up right before Thanksgiving. Then its off to find who has turnips/rutabagas, getting the cream of mushroom soup, green beans and French’s onions for the green bean casserole for my daughter….buttermilk becomes hard to find because everyone is buying it, baking aisle items that are gone by Thanksgiving week. Oh hey, can I find chestnuts in Florida? Get that pound of uncased sausage for the stuffing….ANNNNDDDDDD, BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU DAY! woohoo! Have to get a few bottles of that for the holiday season before it’s gone.

And eggnog, which is usually everywhere.

Then I have to get pie making ingredients. Believe it or not, I already picked up melting chocolate because Sam’s Club got their shipment in already. The worst part is storing everything and running out to get the fresh produce right before Thanksgiving.

We have a running joke in our house that it takes almost a month to prepare for Thanksgiving, and the eating the meal take about 30 minutes tops.

But there are all of those yummy leftovers……..

Happy Halloween!

Inktober Day 31 Farm Pen and Ink sketch of a farm stand with produce under a tree. There are some pumpkins scattered about
Inktober Day 31 “Farm”
Happy Halloween 2022 A little bird with a witch's hat sitting on a branch.
Halloween 2022

Inktober Day 28

| Gina Lento

Inktober Day 28 and today’s prompt is “camping.”

I got the idea for this sketch from the season.  What do we do when we are camping? Usually a campfire is one of the evening activities that people do while camping. A campfire brings light to the dark.  It can be used to cook food, marshmallows, s’mores, it can provide warmth, or it can provide ambiance for an evening of socializing…..or the setting for storytelling by the fire.

 We have seen a lot of movies from Hollywood where the purpose of a campfire was a location used to create suspense to scare the crap out of the people sitting around it.  I get it it.  There’s that primal thing going on where our ancestors used a fire for cooking, warmth, possibly storytelling and for security. We still have that primal basic human instinct where sometimes logic can lose control. Fire kept dangerous creatures away and other dark beings that walk in the night.  We still seek the fire and light….to feel safe.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the word camping was the universal tent icon. I have fond memories of tent camping and if you are reading this and you have never tried tent camping, try it once.  The tent segued into a guy telling a story by a campfire with just a ghost in the speech bubble pretty much summing up what’s going on.  That idea just popped into my head to simplify that he was telling a ghost story.

I added the tree with the owl and moon for mood.  I was thinking of adding a coyote howling at the moon.  If you have never heard a pack of coyotes yipping and howling near your bedroom window in the dead of the night, I can tell you it’s unnerving.  Exciting that we heard coyotes! Maybe even beautiful in a way…. But again…deep down, there is still that instinctual survival “thing” that kicks in and maybe you experience a little twinge of….panic? The house has concrete block walls but you still listen to ensure that the coyotes are gone….and try to go back to sleep.

Inktober Day 28 "camping" Pen and Ink Drawing of a couple sitting at a campfire in front of a tent. There is a tree with an owl behind the tentand a full moon in the sky. The husband/man of the couple is telling a ghost story indicated by a ghost in a speech bubble.
Inktober Day 28 “camping”

Inktober Day 26

| Gina Lento

Today’s prompt is “ego.”

I was totally uninspired by this prompt. There are some prompts, like this one, where I want to go off the reservation and just draw something else. The nice thing about a subject I don’t like, it forces me to be more creative and just do it. The more I tackle prompts I don’t want to do, the better I get as a creative.

When I first graduated from college with that degree in Art, I didn’t push myself to draw all subjects. I didn’t sketch as much as I should have but I did paint, sometimes plein air. However, my painting skills got better when I began drawing in my sketchbooks. My friend, Jenn Danza, showed me her sketches and explained why sketchbooks were so important and a lightbulb came on.

The one thing that I have observed over the years is that artists that have the best drawing skills are the ones that do it every day. I have heard various artists complain over the years that they can’t do this or that, but the common denominator I observed among the complainers is that they don’t have a daily drawing habit.

I am a fan of James Gurney and his wife Jeannette. They have a daily creative practice. I wondered why they used sketchbooks instead of boards or canvases until I realized that painting in a sketchbook has a TON of pluses. Painting in a 7×5 sketchbook is small and portable and they only require a small storage space. James paints on one side of the page which makes removing a page painless. Using sketchbooks instead of boards and canvases saves a TON of space and MONEY on materials. A sketchbook doesn’t require an easel, although James has made a custom easel for his sketchbooks. A sketchbook is small and convenient and makes a daily painting practice less intimidating. If it sucks, you turn the page and you didn’t waste an expensive board or canvas. Genius!

I tell kids aspiring to be artists to draw in their sketchbooks every day. It’s the same thing as soccer drills. Practice makes it look easy but like sports, practice gives you muscle memory of your eye/ hand coordination.

Practice made me think of a pumpkin head for EGO. LOL.

Inktober Day 26 Ego Pen and Ink drawing of a pumpkin head character with EGO spelled out on his shirt. The head is large to emphasize EGO.
Inktober Day 26 “EGO”

Inktober Day 24

| Gina Lento

Today’s prompt is fun! It is also one of my favorite things; “fairy.”

I drew a bunch of sketches in my sketchbook of various different approaches and didn’t care for my initial sketches. It is October and I wanted to do something along the lines of an Autumn Faerie. I wanted to create a faerie that doesn’t follow the normal sex diva stereotype of faerie. The sex divas are everywhere and I find it hard to believe that a faerie would be wearing a gown with a crown or a slinky “sex kitten” goth outfit while flitting out and about in someone’s garden. Or going into a nursery to swap out a changeling with a human baby. (I picture a hooded faerie for this swap.) Faeries, for the most part are less likely to call attention to themselves and a “goth” outfit sure isn’t going to help them lure a child into a faerie ring. On the contrary, a child would be lured more by a non threatening pixie-like costume. Any child today knows to run the other way when seeing a goth dressed witch with a tainted treat. We’ll all up on our faerie tales these days.

My faerie is an autumn faerie who’s job is to dress trees in their autumn finery. She and the other autumn faeries take their outfits from the leaves and sew them into whatever fiber material they find to create warm clothing that is climate controlled and functional. They reserve the more beautiful leaves for the end of the season when they have their autumn Ball where they do make dresses out of the leaves and party before they go into winter hibernation. No humans are invited to the Autumn Ball, but the woodland creatures and other beings are more than welcome. If you see a fox with leaves braided into his fur, you’ll know he has been to an Autumn Faerie Ball.

Inktober Day 24 Fairy Pen and ink drawing of a fairy sitting on a spotted mushroom. She has monarch butterfly type wings because she is an autumn fairy. Her costume is made of leaves and fibers and she is taking a break from her work changing the color of the leaves.
Inktober 2022 Day 24 Fairy

Inktober Day 23

| Gina Lento

Day 23 and today’s prompt is “booger.” Ok I almost thought this was gross until I decided to look up the definition of the word. Low and behold, “booger” is actually another word for the “boogeyman.” And a slang word for mucus. Yuck.

The new “Ghostbusters” has been on TV the past couple of weeks for October. I like the original best, but all the versions have Slimer, the green slimy ghost. Upon researching the definition of “booger” I can see how they came up with the original idea for Slimer being a booger, mucus-y creature; boogeyman and booger all in one.

I sketched a few versions of “boogeyman” and one wound up looking more like the Grim Reaper and another was a cat with a Michael Myers mask, sort of like the one that I did in color, several years ago. Then I sketched my own Slimer type booger. The nice thing about sketching in pencil first is that I can make marks with abandon. No rules, no one sees these and the spontaneous marks create something that I probably would not have done if I used ink first.

I used to just go right to ink but James Gurney showed me the error of that thinking and mechanical pencils are now part of my “tool kit.”

On a side note: For those of you who think Florida is always hot, sunny, void of season definition and that Floridians are always in shorts and flip flops… News Flash….we have had a few cold snaps recently where we needed long sleeves and jeans, and it actual LOOKS like October here. My husband put the heat on this morning and that’s saying something!

And the seasons DO change here, the license plates change in October from Florida to NY, PA, NJ, IL, MA, CT and many more.

Inktober Day 23 Booger Pen and ink drawing of a boogeyman type of flying creature with fangs and a gaping mouth with a bit of an angry face.
Inktober Day 23 “Booger”

Inktober Day 17

| Gina Lento

It’s Inktober Day 17 and today’s prompt is salty. One word with so many ways to represent it. I opted for the good old fashioned Philly pretzel. There’s nothing like a hot Philly pretzel straight out of the oven, slathered with brown mustard, spicy or not, I don’t care. Philly pretzels are amazing. Delis and shops, food trucks and food carts all over the Philadelphia region sell Philly pretzels. The best are the salted ones but you can get them unsalted.

I know, some of you like the Auntie Anne pretzels. Yeah, those are dessert pretzels. Philly pretzels are a savory dough, they taste like a hot buttered roll, not a rolled up doughy cookie. Philly pretzels are sort of like a twisted bagel with salt. They are usually a long shape, not your traditional round pretzel. They aren’t like the Bavarian soft pretzels you get in gastropubs this time of year. Once you try a real Philly pretzel, you’ll understand the difference.

Philly pretzels straight out of the oven are hard and crispy on the outside. The inside is soft, bread like; some folks like to pull out the soft inside and eat it like an oreo, soft inside first then the harder outer crust. (Or if you are in a schoolyard, the inside dough balls are used to bean someone in the head. Only Philly kids could use soft pretzels as a weapon.)

I think some of the pretzel companies ship them around the US. I haven’t tried that yet but maybe I should. Some things like Philly pretzels, cheesesteaks, hoagies, scrapple, Irish potatoes, Taylor Pork ROLL (it’s not Taylor ham, it says ROLL on the box) and Jewish Apple cake are best when acquired in the Philly Region.

Oh, and the piece de resistance? Birthday pound cake from Stock’s Bakery on Lehigh Ave and chocolate from Lore’s Chocolate on 7th St.

And I am not a fan of Pat’s or Geno’s cheesesteaks. Those are for tourists. Some of your best cheesesteaks come from the neighborhood bar or deli. Or Jim’s on South Street. My favorite place is Somerdale Deli. In South Jersey.

Inktober Day 17 Salty Pen and ink drawing of Philly pretzels with salt
Inktober Day 17 – Salty

Inktober Day 16

| Gina Lento

Over the mid month hump and into a prompt most “fowl.”

There are a ton of birds that fit this category, but I went with a chicken. Chickens are pretty cool. They come in all sorts of shapes and feathers. I like the ones that look like they have chicken hair dos.

Chickens are usually thought of as barnyard creatures but I have found that over the years, chickens are not just farm animals. When I used to live on Long Island (NY), there are a few chickens that ran the neighborhood. One chicken took it upon herself to be her block’s watch dog. If you went near a house and she didn’t like you; you were chased down the street. The USPS mail lady said it took a while before the chicken stopped bothering her. I am sure if she carried bird snacks instead of doggie biscuits, that would have helped, too.

On Bermuda, of all places, chickens literally run amuck. They are wildlings that have the run of the island and make small chickens. At first the government wasn’t too happy about it, but the tourists like them so they leave them be. After all, if there is a food chain shortage, there won’t be a shortage of eggs on that island. There are some really pretty and neat looking chickens on Bermuda.

So when it came to picking my fowl for the day, I had to pick a chicken. I wouldn’t mind having home grown eggs but their are too many predators here. If the coyotes don’t get them, the bobcats will. And bobcats can jump some really high fences. They are really impressive jumpers, having seen them jump a fence first hand. Then there are owls and other raptors in the air so alas, chickens are off my pet list.

Inktober Day 16 Fowl Pen and ink drawing of a walking chicken
inktober day 16 – fowl

Inktober Day 15

| Gina Lento

The middle of the month is here, if you don’t count the fact that they are 31 days in October. It is the 15th day of the Inktober Challenge and today’s prompt is “armadillo.”

Armadillos are these odd creatures that most of the time, Floridians see them on the side of the road as roadkill. The poor dears. However, if you are lucky enough to see one live (they are nocturnal like opossums so most of the time you have to be out at night to see them), they are really cool little creatures that like to wreck lawns. They are funny looking and cool all at the same time. They are very busy rooting around for insects and such. They totally don’t seemed to be phased by humans unless they feel threatened and then they roll up in a ball like a pill bug.

They crack me up. They really do look like they are wearing armor. They are a “look don’t touch” creature because apparently they can contract leprosy, which is gross. Humans can get it from them so I am really cool with letting them root around the property as long as they do their thing without me getting involved. Whatever they catch and eat is theirs.

Wildlife in Florida is fascinating but a lot of creatures are “don’t touch.” They are either poisonous, dangerous or endangered so it’s best to take the approach of taking photos and letting creatures live without being harassed. I’m cool with that. I love observing nature and the only time we get involved is when their lives can be threatened, like gopher tortoises on busy roadways. You’d be amazed how many Floridians stop traffic to help a tortoise cross a highway. Most folks just stop and wait until the tortoise is safely deposited on the side of the road and the person is back in their car, and then everyone continues on with their day. Gotta love the wildlife.

Inktober Day 15 Armadillo Pen and ink drawing of an armadillo rooting around in a lawn
Inktober Day 15 – Armadillo

Inktober Day 14

| Gina Lento

The prompt for Day 14 is “empty.” My Chihuahuas, Chloe and Mack, are very food focused and empty plates are a cause to create a relentless nagging until they get their next meal. Because Chihuahuas can get hypoglycemic, especially as puppies, our dog children are fed small portioned meals spaced out three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Chloe and Mack get my hubby up early for their breakfast. My husband used to get up early to commute into NYC and he still wakes early because of it. The dynamic duo sense his sleep pattern changing and they are on him like flypaper until he gets up and feeds them breakfast. Usually some drama of coughing and sneezing like they’re on their last breath. They’re dying because they are thinning by the minute until they get breakfast. Then that wakes me and we’re all up at 6AM. They get fed, go out to go potty, and are back in a coma while we have to try to fall back asleep again.

When we cat sit our grand kitties, the two kitties used to be upset about being with us until they watched and studied this whole drama. They learned that Chloe and Mack wake up the humans for food. Which is cool because when the doggies get fed, the kitties get fed, too. The kitchen becomes chaos when the kitties are here. Then, they go home, and treat their mom, my daughter, to a whole new and unwelcome AM feeding schedule.

That tail, tale? all told, “empty” has a different meaning in our house than those without animal companions. Empty means someone’s belly requires filling. And God help us if there is a chicken or turkey in the oven! They know and they become relentless. Chloe will sit in front of that stove until the poultry comes out.

Inktober Day 14 Empty Pen and ink drawing of a cat and a dog sitting in front of empty dishes.
Inktober Day 14 – Empty