Inktober 2026

The starting point is a bitten apple on my desk. I draw its outline on paper, letting the missing section and long stem define the form. These photographs move from the working setup to a close view of the first drawing: the foundation for everything that follows.

For “Relic”, I returned to my own work, Relic of M.V. Baks. The worn-down pencils I preserve have helped turn my thoughts into lines. Each carries the memory of drawings we made together and the time spent making them. Keeping these Relics is a way of honouring that relationship. In this drawing, the box that holds them merges with the apple: something that will decay becomes part of a place for the things I choose to preserve.

Looking at the apple already on the page, I thought of New York: the Big Apple. Its tall buildings can make a person feel miniature. Here I reverse that relationship by building a small city on the fruit. The skyline gives the apple a new scale, turning an everyday object into a landscape.

For “Cactus”, I immediately saw the plant rising above the miniature Big Apple. Its height changes the balance of the drawing again: the buildings that suggested a large city now look smaller beside it. The new element changes how the earlier stages are seen, while remaining part of the same growing composition.