acidshadow

Happy new year!

A new year rolls around and once again we start Inktober 52! This week's word will be ‘Fresh’. A good word for a new year.

I have found the Inktober prompts so good for not only keeping em active art-wise, it inspires me and forces me to continue sharing the art I do. I’d rather not fall in the hole of never uploading art again. That was just silly.

One thing I must do is try to pull out other mediums to do my art in. I have a vast amount of materials to work with and in recent years; even finally got a wacom tablet. But last year was mostly digital and marker-based art. This is because I got lazy with this:

Yeah first things first- fix this or get a new desk. I’m super fussy about my desks and I love this one, but the drawers keep collapsing, and I’m getting lazy about my mediums because of it.

So I’m off to start my year of the Ox picture then work on ‘fresh’! I wish you all an equally inspirational and creative year!

Inktober starts tomorrow! So yes, I’m doing the daily prompt one alongside the weekly prompt one! I’ll keep my titles clear as to what they are towards, but I do believe that the weekly prompts are shared with the daily prompts (so day one’s word for Inktober 2020 is ‘fish’ but it is also the word for week 40 of inktober52) so if it looks like I’m posting a prompt twice, it’s just because I’ll do one daily picture, and one weekly picture.

Not sure what my hours will be at the moment, but I’ll do my best to upload my art each day or at the very least all on the weekends if I find I’m too tired to finish and upload everything. It’s all a little up in the air.

Last year I did a ton of ‘bonus’ pictures when I had extra ideas for words. I’m thinking this year of doing bonus pictures that specifically feature these old creatures of mine called ‘the grinning worm’. I used to do all these little A5 drawings of them back in the day.

I miss doing these guys. They were a good excuse to be bright and abstract.

So expect a ton more to come in the next month!

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my companion Inca. It really hurts to think we had to say goodbye so suddenly after her health rapidly deteriorated over the last few moths. But it was the kindest thing to do after she developed cancer in her neck which was aggressively spreading into her vertebrae.

She wanted to play and walk with us but it was clear she was either in too much pain, or physically unable to due to her cancer. Seeing her try to play bow at me to initiate play...then give up after she was in pain was the hardest thing to see.

Most people would write how they were a good dog and how all dogs are good dogs, and inca was one of those good dogs!...eventually!

Totally accurate picture of what inca is doing right now. If there is a god, and they eat sandwiches, Inca has already pinched it.

Inca was a rescue. Most rescue dogs just need love. Some need training and boundaries in varying degrees. Some are traumatized and need to learn to trust again. Inca was all of that and then some.

Coming to us as a stray found in Ireland it was clear she had some trauma. Afraid of men, white vans, loud revving cars and even fire dustbins; it painted us a picture of a pup who had a rough beginning.

Little did we know she’d quickly trust us and learn to come out her shell... then dash for nearest BBQ to cause havoc.

Inca was a food stealing, pond diving, trespassing, livestock bothering, small animal hunting, rubbish eating, muck loving, dog bothering, Houdini escape artist. Ok so expected I guess.  she was a stray. Time for some training.

But you see inca as a little too smart for your average dog training. We quickly figured that being a Labrador and a stray- treats where the best way to get positive reinforcement in her behaviour. Comes back when called - gets a treat. And this worked! For like a day. Inca quickly figured out that if she was good for MOST of our walks and trips to the dog parks- she’d get praise and treats. THEN when it was time to go home, she run as fast as she could to do all the naughty thing she wanted to do.

She did eventually mellow and respond to training but it took a long time and a lot of effort. Deep down inside Inca was a naughty girl. But not a BAD DOG- she was never aggressive (and we very quickly made sure she was never anywhere near livestock without a good lead, just in case). But it was totally worth it. even if she knew how to push all our buttons, she ultimately just wanted a cuddle and love. When I would wake up to find her on the bed (somewhere she wasn’t allowed of course) all snuggled up to me with her head on my shoulder, I knew I have and will always love her.

My family had just lost both dad to cancer and our previous dog Tye to cancer not long beforehand. I especially needed a focal point. I was jobless in a recession and had finished and aced my studies in a field that lacked the jobs. Inca not only filled a hole in our hearts but gave us something work to work on. Her needs gave me focus.

She was in the end a good and loyal girl. Always insisting on play whenever we hit the soft sand of the beach, rolling in the sun and grass when she was happy, barking to protect her family from intruders and never begging at the table despite being food obsessed. She was even very patient and kind to a boy with downs syndrome my mums partner used to care for. Inca was a naughty girl deep down but even deeper down she was a good girl.

So here is to Inca. My utterly disreputable dog. I have and will always love you and I know you loved us. You utter pain in the butt.

Finally, I’ll end on this Pokémon shaming meme I did years ago entirely based on Inca and the things she did.

Christ the new site is hard to 'read'. What was wrong with the old site? It had some personality and order. I could see where things were and it wasn't art floating on a void. I know you got to update sometimes but I've rarely had a site that updated and it really was for the users end.

So damn glad I mostly sorted my folders before the switch, otherwise I may never have bothered.

I'm sure we'll all get used to it but sheesh. IT LOOKS LIKE NEW TUMBLR. AND NEW TWITTER. EVERY SITE ALL THE SAME NOW. SO IT'S BETTER FOR PHOOOOONES 8D

I suppose in the end you gotta update because of old code but I do stand by the logic of 'If it's not broke- don't fix it'. Gonna try and upload some pictures via the new format to get used to it. I just got back here, I will not flee because 'I dun liok change'.

( I tried 4 times to upload a 'cover image' to this journal. 3 times it 'rejected' my image. Any instructions as to why? No! Of course not! I had to guess. I think it's image resolution? Old site would have had this thing called text. Not this strange white mass that simply blocks out your images. And when I did get it to accept my image- it's massively stretched it, no option to adjust it. So cool feature broken by the sites own 'minimalism'.)