Blooming green minds.... Eager to eat the burning hot summer sun...

These hungry kitties want to eat up your secret stash and hold it for safe keeping. Zip it – Mum’s the word.  🖤 Hungry Kitty Zipper Pouch

I drew Hapu'u Ferns for Inktober day 8. Using Laulima Hawaii's prompt list. I only drew the leaves here in this piece, so you can't really tell what a large fern Hapu'u is. These fern trees can grow up to 30 ft tall! From my memory, they are also very hairy plants. The fronds are covered in what looks like orangutan fur.

I drew a Brittle Star for Inktober day 7. The prompt is STARFISH. I remember seeing Brittle Stars a lot when I was younger. Not just at the aquarium field trips, but also at the tidepools at the beach. At a Drink and Draw evening with my buddies a few month's back, I drew another of these guys. I used my LAMY Safari pen with Noodler's Bulletproof Black.

Using the official Inktober prompt list: This art is for day 5 - DEER. When I first started to brainstorm for "Deer", the first images that came to mind were the fire scene in Bambi. Those scenes were animated so beautifully. I also looked at a lot of Amy Sol's art. Wanting to keep a spooky, inky feel, I began this Deer piece in the same way I did the Inky Swamp.

I hadn't known of the Pua Kala (Argemone glauca) before. It also is called the Hawaiian Poppy. I think it's a really pretty & soft looking flower with some intimidating leaves. This drawing was for day 4 of an Inktober prompt list by Laulima Nature Center & Laulima Hawaii. My bestie gets me a gift from their brand every birthday and Christmas and I use them all often. I think this flower will pop up in my art again. I really like it.

Today's drawing is of Mamaki (Pipturus albidus). It's a native Hawaiian plant that is used in lāʻau lapaʻau (traditional medicine practices). It's known to help with digestive problems, skin ailments, and respiratory conditions among other things. Plus, I learned a new-to-me fact about Mamaki while doing some reference searching on Google. It is also be helpful in treating Dementia! (

It's Inktober again! That means it's time for me to stress out over posting a drawing every day this month. I don't mind drawing every day - I LOVE that! It's the posting part that's annoying. I'm currently using a prompt list provided by Laulima Hawaii. Usually I try to stick to one major prompt list for the month. For example, my Spooky favorite, Mab's Drawlloween Club.

It's been a few days and I'm still playing with the oil pastels. Yes, they're crayola. I'm doing these after taking the kiddo to school and before I have to start working. Today, I used a reference from Pinterest. The proportions are wrong - it's a little long in the face. Still, it's a good looking face. This background color worked nicely with the colors I chose, so I like that too!

As promised, I worked on some new portraits. These are done in oil pastel and are on small craft paper, 4" x 6". Oh, and I also used a black grease pencil. They took about 10 minutes each. There were others that I made but these were the nicest of them. It's fun to mess with these faces so quickly! Oil pastels are super fun on bright paper.

Maneki Neko with Orchids - Set of 5 Nesting Dolls created for Maneki Neko 2024 @ Fishcake through 15 Dec 2024 Each neko has a collar with a golden orb attached. The golden orbs represent the Koban, or golden coin, and also a bell. You can see the orchids featured behind each neko like Phalaenopsis, Honohono & Epidendrum. The tiniest doll features golden orbs like the ones held on each neko's neck.