Week two of Inktober and my rules of engagement are to work with Bic ballpoint pens on small coloured post-it notes that are 75cm (3 inches) square. In addition I use a white ink gel pen and sometimes a touch of coloured pencils.

Inktober prompt 8: Frail.

Dear Arachnophobia type people, be not afraid, these are Harvestmen not Spiders. This science woman loves them. She has tattoos saying I love Opilions. Done in Black and blue Bic biro, white ink gel pen and orange pencil on a pink post-it note.

Inktober prompt 9: Swing.

Dedicated swinger in the night. A Scotsman playing golf in the moonlight with his balls painted luminous. His trusted caddy in tow. His divot has flown in the other direction but resulted in a lucky escape for the worm.

Inktober prompt 10: Pattern.

Herring. Or rather Herring bones. Once the plentiful silver darlings. This is no longer so. You cannot catch even one inshore with bait lines anymore. Times past, you could fill a rowing boat in a morning. We come too readily to accept as normal what we see around us. We should be outraged. In one lifetime I myself have witnessed these changes for the worse. Black Bic biro and ink gel pen on a purple post-it note.

Inktober prompt 11: Snow.

Bad luck for the skier about to land on the angry Polar Bear who’s discovered who’s responsible for global warming. White ink gel, blue post-it note, blue biro, white & orange pencils. I re-used an idea from my illustration of the Scottish word feerochry here.

Inktober prompt 12: Dragon.

Can you follow the Celtic knot from the tail to the head? Red and black Bic biros + white ink gel pen on post-it note with orange & yellow pencils. I spent a long time developing the dragon and consequently used it three times. Once here, then second again for ‘ash’ with only a small alteration and then a third version, redrawn, much improved, coloured and reworked for the Scottish word Contermacious here.

Inktober prompt 13: Ash.

The dragon replies. I spent so much time on the previous prompt dragon I decided to repurposed it so that the fireman failed with his feeble extinguisher and it fitted the next prompt ‘ash’. Flesh vaporised and bones crumble to ash – Unlucky 13. I redrew the left side and corner section and digitally pasted it into the previous image.

Inktober prompt 14: Overgrown.

An overgrown spire with a Damsel in distress – hands blistered from wielding garden shears day and night.  Up clamber the Prince Charmings. But if they don’t climb quickly enough – the overgrowth grows right through their middle as well as through the brickwork. Black Bic biro, white ink gel pen, green post-it note and colour pencils.