Calmtober, gathering supplies

It’s been several years since I followed one of the many art challenges that seem so prevalent online, especially around October. Inktober was one that I liked taking part in, but the pressure I placed on myself to keep up with the daily prompts kept me from fully enjoying it.

Then last winter I found out about Calmtober, hosted by UK illustrator and artist, Kriksis. Instead of 31 daily prompts, she lists 16 every-other-day prompts, which feels a lot less stressful. Today’s sketch is of the simplified sketch kit I’ve put together for Calmtober 2026.

These days, I am using waterbrushes instead of my favorite paint brushes. Our overly active kitten thought everything at my art table was fair game; all art tools have been placed out of reach for now. In addition, our incorrigible corgi found that she can squeeze through the cat door in the pet gate we installed to keep dogs out of the back room where cats are fed — food dishes are now on top of my art table. A water jar on a living room table is just waiting for a bouncy kitten running at top speed to knock it over! So my art space is “on hold” for a year or so. Eventually Luna will settle down into an adult cat, right?

The photo of the kit follows, including a pencil and a folio-sized bag from Art Toolkit to hold everything in. I added one of Kriksis’ stickers to the front of the sketchbook to remind me which is the front. It’s an accordion sketchbook and I’ll be working on both front and back, but it’s always good to know where to begin!

Kriksis can be found on Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon. Below is this year’s Calmtober prompt list.

our bird-watching kitten

One of Luna’s favorite spots is sitting on top of the cats’ scratching post (behind the chair) watching birds at the feeders in front. This is looking towards the front of our converted barn house; two windows and the French doors are where the barn door used to be. Bill made me the Morris chair and footstool years ago.

Inspiration for this drawing came from a wonderful new book I’m slowly reading through, “Pen Drawing, An Artist’s Guide to Drawing With Ink” by John Harrison. The second photo is from the e-book, part of a demonstration where John draws a chair in a similar position, though his background is a shelf full of lovely books. I decided to leave the line drawing in ink lines only, adding colored pencil to suggest the outside view. Luna is in watercolor.

Drawn with a Sailor Fude de Mannen bent nib fountain pen and Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink (color Jule).

a pen thief among us

Apparently, this blog post from last week never posted and stayed in the “draft” statis. Curious . . .

After baking a loaf of sourdough earlier this week, I drew a continuous line sketch using my black Lumos Duo pen from Tom’s Studio, currently filled with the non-waterproof ink that came with it. Today, I added a bit of watercolor and colored pencil, pleased to see that the ink doesn’t bleed much.

I just wish I knew where that pen _was_ at the moment. It was used yesterday morning, and is now missing. Our 4-month old kitten, Luna, has probably stolen the pen from whichever surface I laid it down on.

With Luna in the house, my art space has been streamlined: the various postcards, color charts and notes usually hanging on the wall over my desk have been put away for now, and my pencil / tool carousel is covered up when Luna is not napping. I have actually caught her lifting a colored pencil held between two paws and then dropping it to the stone floor to play!

The upper note in green ink was jotted down using a Wren pen, also from Tom’s, which I immediately smeared before the ink dried. Today is a messy day.

Luna in pencil

I’m not very good at drawing cats in general, and Luna’s face is different than Maine Coons I’ve had in the past. Where they each had what is called a “sweet face”, hers is more of the wild lynx look. And her body, legs and tail are so very long!

The smaller line drawing was of Luna bird-watching out of one of our front windows. Bill designed them to be about 10” from the floor just for cats and dogs to have a great view.

Luna’s toys

I had forgotten how truly rambunctious a tiny kitten can be. When not eating or sleeping, Luna plays. With her kitty toys, dog toys, coasters, window blinds, a shoe, a rock tracked in by the shoe, postcards hung above my art table, used paper towel, fountain pens, pencils, erasers, paint brushes, a small water container left out for sketching, the elastic band on my sketchbook . . .

Kitty-proofing is a thing.

a new companion for Scottie

Since our 9 yr. old cat Bardie MacRuadh died unexpectedly in May, his brother Scottie Dubh has been a bit lost. Needing lots of reassurance and extra petting, he has continued to cry at night. After a lot of thought back and forth, I decided to get him a new feline buddy. He just wasn’t built for life as an only-cat.

Today we brought home Luna, a 3-month old Maine Coon kitten. Wary of each other at first, Scottie discovered that with Luna came new toys! He now happily accepts having a new baby sister.

Butters is totally ignoring the kitten and Luna, having never been around dogs before, is being extremely cautious before getting too close. But I’ve had Maine Coons before — I am sure that her outgoing, accepting nature will eventually overcome any reservations re: The Dog.