InkTorrents Graphics

During the past few weeks, I was very determined to shake off this lackluster feeling I have been having. I took a few day trips to the surrounding areas with my husband. I started working on a quilt and a knitted sweater. I also spent happy hours binding tiny books and working on this painting of our kitty Charlie.

A few months ago, my husband passed his private pilot license exam with flying colors. Now that he can take passengers with him, I joined him when he went flying last time. I had been looking forward to this.

We did a short jaunt between two airports. I took a few photos of the landscape around that area. It was midday, but the morning mist was still hanging around the California coastal mountains. Behind that is the Pacific Ocean. I felt very safe with him; I can’t wait to go flying with him again.

The Golden Gate Recreation area is a huge natural and historical area which is right by the bridge. Although we drive over Golden Gate Bridge to San Fransisco often, we hardly ever stop here. One Sunday afternoon we went to explore that area and stayed until the bridge lights came on. There is a walkway that crosses under the bridge, connecting to a trail by the ocean. We walked there until it got too dark for us to walk any further without lights.

Northern California has many coastal redwood forests and one of them is about an hour and a half drive. It is on a beautiful road that we have taken to the coast a few times, but never stopped at the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. With a packed picnic lunch, a flask of tea and some snacks, we set off on our way there.

There are a few trails that climb up from the parking lot, leaving the redwood forest. I wanted to walk along the redwoods, so we stayed on the main trail. It was beautiful; parts of it reminded us of the Redwood National Park much further up north.

At home, I had been pondering how to finish the Garden Path quilt. After the walk in the forest, I decided on getting a pale green fabric for the back of the quilt. During my winter break, I am going to finish this one.

I also picked knitting back up again. I am a super slow knitter. I am hoping to finish this sweater by next winter, so my husband can wear it then.

I was binding a larger book for watercolor painting. When stitching books, I need to pay attention to the tension of the stitch. That day I was being a bit heavy-handed, which resulted in my tearing the gentle watercolor paper at the needle hole. I cut up those discarded papers to make two little black watercolor books. They joined my other tiny 2.0″ x 1.0″ green book.

This one is 3.50″ x 2.0″. I made a double inset on this one and then affixed pieces of gold on black washi tape in them. I am going to fill this book with happy, cheerful little paintings.

With the size of 1.50″ x 2.0″, this is the smallest book I have made so far. There is a little verse in The Lord of the Rings that I love. I am going to paint tiny little scenes from that verse in this book. I drew the front picture with a fountain pen, and glued it into the little inset. I will be adding color to it as well.

The pages are all counted to fit the verse. I even added teeny tiny bands at the head and tail of the book.

November was mostly spent working on the painting of our kitty Charlie and his lute. I drew this picture of him a couple of years ago.

I was feeling unwell in November and was sapped out of all energy. Working on this painting really brought me back to a more cheerful state. Charlie is a happy boy and it is hard to feel melancholy when I am creating anything with him in mind. I made a few changes to it before setting out to paint it.

Last time I shared this little sketch of him. I familiarized myself with the color of his fur with this one before embarking on the larger painting.

Very few things in my life have made me happier than our kitty Charlie. He has always been just a very happy boy with a penchant for “singing”.

He wrote a song for his beloved big sister who didn’t want to hear him sing just at that moment. So, on that day, he sat under a tree in his best clothes and sang his heart out while playing a lute.

I wrote a new ballaaaaaad

But now I am so saaaaad

She won’t hear my new song

Where did I go wrooooong.

He gave me permission to share his song as long as I added the correct inflections. He is very particular about them! Even the thought of this makes me smile. I hope it does the same for you too!

I will see you again in February after my winter holiday. I am looking forward to exploring the sleepy, quiet winter world outside, clad in my favorite woolens. Long hours of playing video games and watching anime with my husband has become a beloved tradition. I am also looking forward to spending extra time with my ink and paper friends along with warm beverages and kitty cuddles. I wish you all a season full of happiness and laughter as well.

Until then,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them. Hosts of linky parties – please grab a photo of you choice for your party. Thank you for hosting!

The Ink Torrents Graphics shop remains open. I will continue to mail orders, as always. You can also purchase quilting patterns, which you can access immediately via Instant Download. I will also be available via email. Thank you for continuing to shop from my store, so I can support my favorite rescue organizations.

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Charlie’s Adventure is a story I wrote along with a quilt I made. Charlie is my sweet little orange kitty who, contrary to everyone’s belief, has a sweet tooth that would rival anyone. He will do anything to get a lick of ice-cream, watermelon, sweetened cream, or anything else sweet you can think of.

One day, Charlie learned that on All Hallows Eve, if he puts on a wizard’s hat and a bow tie and sits very very quietly amongst the Jack-O-Lanterns, magic leaves will come and carry him to the Land of the Seven Sisters who would give him lots and lots of sweets to eat. So he came to me and asked if I would make him a hat and a bow tie. I was happy to oblige.

As the evening approached, he donned his starry hat and bow tie, smartly walked outside, sat down in the pumpkin patch and waited very patiently.

Charlie has a very bossy sister and two very clueless brothers. They all love to play with Charlie. His sister specially loves Charlie and keeps a wary eye on him at all times. Charlie excitedly told her all about his plan. She didn’t really believe him, but she was not about to let him sit outside all alone either. Who knew what peril would befall her brother! She was also not going to leave the other two out of sight, because then she would have to spend the rest of the night looking for all of them if they got lost. So the bossy sister pushed the disgruntled brothers out the door and all of them surreptitiously waited a little distance away from little Charlie as the sun sank below the horizon.

They waited and waited and waited some more. Then, when everything had gone quiet, all the kids had gone home after their Trick-Or-Treat runs and the Jack-O-Lanterns were about to go out, they heard a rustle and a swoosh. Suddenly they were off, all four of them, carried away on gigantic leaves! These were no ordinary leaves, of course! On each one of them, a different adventure awaited the little kitties. They stayed together, hopped around and rolled from leaf to leaf, played, and had amazing fun.

All this time, while they were busy playing, the leaves carried them onward and upward to the Land of the Seven Sisters. By the time the little kitties got there, they were exhausted. They sat in the midst of stars and each had their favourite food to eat while watching the Jack-O-Lantern-lit Earth turning down below. Charlie had his most favourite sweets to eat that day and nobody was going to stop him. Slowly as the night got deeper, they fell asleep on top of each other and were carried gently and silently back down to earth, down to their soft, warm beds.

I had a wonderful time drawing, creating the layout, and designing the patterns for Charlie’s Adventure. I definitely had just as much fun as my little kitties. Charlie was all right with sharing the story with all of you as long as he and his beloved Papa could have the quilt.

Now I am really glad to have finished the quilt so that they can huddle under it together and dream of sweet things.

Charlie sat and supervised as I wrote the story. Actually, he was trying to convince me to give him some sweet treats. He was most disappointed when that didn’t work, “Nobody at home ever gives me anything!” So he went off to bed to dream about his special All Hallows Eve adventure while snoozing with his pumpkin. Supposedly the pumpkin gives him sweet dreams.

He has always been the perpetual kitten of our home and continues to make us laugh with his antics. I was working on another large painting which I unfortunately had to restart after many hours of work, causing a fair bit of disgruntlement. As I have always wanted to illustrate this story, I put that painting aside to work on storyboarding Charlie’s Adventure. Storyboarding is usually done with rough sketches and no color, but I really wanted to play with my watercolors.

So, I did this very rough and quick watercolor sketch on a 3″x5″ card. It was hard for me to not add any detail, but I reminded myself that this is only a sketch, and I can add detail to my heart’s content on the larger painting. I am really looking forward to continuing with the illustrations and then turning that into a book. That will be my adventure!

Whether you read this story for the first time today or re-read it, I do hope you enjoyed it! Wishing Happy Samhain to the ones who celebrate and Happy Autumn to everyone!

Until next time,
-Soma

P.S. I always get asked – the patterns are available in my shop.

Little Stories – Happy Tunes

Charlie’s Adventure…and Mine