What can I say about this incredible woman?! Such an amazing mother and wife. I really don’t have the words. Happy Mother’s Day to an awe inspiring partner. Your daughters and I love you so much!
Took about 5 weeks off of drawing Stampy’s story. With a lot of things happening in and around my life right now, it was a necessary break. But at last I am back to trying to complete our journey together. I won’t be posting every day. This time of year doesn’t afford me that much commitment. But I will draw when I can. And post when I can. This was the prompt for day 19 of Inktober. The prompt was “Arctic”. It was a bit difficult to come up with a way to show “Arctic” when our hero is still in the jungle. So I used a map and a globe with the captain’s skeletal fingers pointing to rhat region. From an online definition:
“The word "Arctic" comes from the Greek word arktos, meaning "bear," referring to the constellations Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (Little Bear) prominent in the northern sky used for navigation, So, "Arctic" means "near the bear" (constellation), and "Antarctic" means "opposite the bear," So I went ahead and threw in a smattering of bear carvings in the captain’s quarters as well. Enjoy! #inktober2025
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Hello my friends!
Life is busy! The new shop set up at work and now Halloween this week as well as getting ready for that, have been robbing me of my drawing time. Oh well. The Inktober prompt for day 18 was “Deal” As you can see Stampy has let his curiosity get the best of him, and has managed to somehow clamber aboard the Pirate ship he discovered deep in the jungle. There he finds two long dead sailors captured in their final moments. It looks like a disagreement at cards lead them to murder each other mid game. These pirates are a rough sort, not to be unexpected I suppose What other surprises await Stampy on his exploration of this derelict ship? We shall just have to see. Until then,
Enjoy!
P.S. gonna be awhile before I can draw another installment. Bear with me. Big plans still ahead for our friend. I will see it through. Thanks all!
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Hey!….. remember me? I had to take a few days off from drawing.
The shop where I worked burned. I didn’t realize how much something like that could affect me. It did. Deeply. This last week was spent salvaging that old shop, and moving into a new one, so that we could keep up with the workload we have scheduled.. We don’t have a choice about that. But It was hard, saying goodbye to that shop was like losing a good friend. So many memories tied up there. So many good things that have come from that place. Our new shop is big..it’s funky, it’s old school Ballard neighborhood vibe. And I am embracing the hell out of it. Still hurts though Having said all of that…..
Inktober day 17
The prompt was “Ornate”
Stampy’s journey has taken him further into the jungle, where he discovers an ornately carved sailing ship from days past. Was it washed there by some powerful storm way back in history? Was it trapped there when an old inlet was choked off somehow by a shifting, tempestuous ocean? Hmmm…..
perhaps a bit more investigation is needed. #inktober 2025
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Inktober Day 16
The prompt was “Blunder”
Stampy in his wanderings in the jungle has blundered into a skeleton with a blunderbuss! How frightening! Enjoy!
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Inktober
Finished up Day 15.
4 days behind, but with all that has happened this month, I feel that’s not too bad. Day 15’s prompt was “Ragged”
Stampy is finished beachcombing and has started to explore a bit of the jungle now. In a clearing he discovers the remains of an old abandoned shack, and a tattered, ragged flag flapping in the wind. He stares long and hard at the old place. Trying to decide what to do next. Enjoy!
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Inktober day 14
Today’s prompt was “Trunk”
After getting a good long drink by the stream, Stampy has decided to do a bit of beachcombing and scouting. On his walk he discovered a lump in the sand, which turned out to be an old locked trunk. Nothing useful for Stampy. But a local crab decided to let Stampy know that his digging and tramping about, were most unwelcome. Oh well, you can’t please everyone.
Enjoy!
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Inktober Day 13 Prompt for this one was “Drink”
Stampy’s raft has fortunately drifted ashore.
Also fortunately for Stampy, he found a stream of fresh water flowing out of the jungle and down to the beach.
That should renew his spirits a bit.
Let’s jope more pleasant days lay ahead for our young protagonist.
(I probably had way too much fun drawing Rhinoceros beetles on this one been wanting to draw some for a while)
Enjoy!
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Inktober day 12
The prompt was “Shredded”
It looks like our young Stampy has come through the vicious storm that blew up soon after the raid on the ship that he and his mother were captives on. Though the escape was welcome, the fact that they didn’t actually get rescued in time to be saved from the storm is bad news. Even worse, it appears that the rope that was holding the two rafts together has been shredded by the storm sometime during the night. Our poor hero can’t help but stare at the frayed end of rope and shed a bitter tear. He is all alone on a small raft out at sea. #inktober #inktober2025
Hello friends
First of all, thank you tor all the kind words of encouragement that you expressed to me after the sad news I shared about the fire we experienced at my place of work. I have no more news about that to report except to say, no fooling, we are not even slowing down a little bit because of it. Having said that, thanks for being patient with me, and understanding that I will not be completing the Inktober challenge in time, I will need more time than the month allows. It may take me a few extra days, it may take me a week or two into November to complete the drawings. But I am realizing now that I don’t really want to rush through it anyway. I want to make sure that I tell the story that I need to tell, in a way that preserves quality, and keeps the joy I have in bringing it to you alive. I also want to adhere to the prompts as laid out in inktober That challenge has been one of the best things about this adventure, telling the story that I want to tell, but having to navigate the prompts that I do not control. Blah, blah, blah. Onto the story
Day 11 and the prompt for today was “Sting”
It seems at last the authorities have caught up with the evil smuggler/kidnappers and are fast roping down onto the decks in order to seize the ship, and rescue our hapless rhino friends. But the captain has taken a drastic step in order to get rid of the evidence! He has opened the cages, and scared the rhinos into a panicked leap off the decks and into the sea!! Thank goodness Otis the janitor recognized the foulness of this dastardly act, and has tossed a couple of life rafts into the sea in order to give our heros a fighting chance against the elements. (Good on ya Otis, hopefully this bodes well for you at trial) Meanwhile I must mention that I don’t care much for the look of those clouds closing in.
Storm is a’ brewing on the high seas. Let us all hope that mother and son don’t have too rough of a time braving the elements before they can be rescued!! My heart is in my throat!
Enjoy. #inktober2025 #inktober
Day 10 of Inktober
The prompt for day 10 was “Sweep”
Our heros are stuck down in the hold of the ship. How long have they been here?? My gosh, it must have been quite a while, little Stampy is noticeably bigger, and his horn is really growing in now too! Where is the ship headed? Are they drifting aimlessly? Is the trip to the final destination taking so long because the dastardly villains are evading discovery by avoiding the major shipping lanes? Still so many questions and NO answers! And one more question Does Otis the janitor’s mother know that he has fallen in with bad men? He hardly writes her anymore and has stopped paying his janitor school student loans! All I can say is Enjoy! #inktober2025
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