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.

A kiss from the past

For the fifth day of Inktober 2026, the word Smack brought me back to an old love letter. I searched through my memories, found a lipstick kiss on one of those letters, and decided to bring it into my drawing.

A simple kiss, yet one carrying a personal history.

It also reminded me of the Pink Lady apple, the sweet fruit that started this entire composition. The connection between the apple, a kiss and a memory felt natural, almost as if these elements had been waiting to meet.

As the drawing continues to evolve, each new element introduces another layer of meaning. What began as an ordinary apple is slowly becoming a surreal world where memories, imagination and unexpected encounters coexist.

An unexpected visitor from another dimension

For the sixth day of Inktober 2026, the word Ogre introduced a rather unfortunate visitor to my growing surreal world.

A young ogre, thrown out of a mysterious portal above the Big Apple, finds himself landing face-first in a cactus. Not exactly the warmest welcome to a new dimension.

His arrival adds another layer of chaos and humour to the composition. What started as a simple apple is slowly transforming into a strange city where the unexpected becomes ordinary.

I particularly enjoy how each new word challenges me to find connections between elements that were never meant to belong together. Rather than starting a new drawing every day, I allow the existing composition to determine where the next story unfolds.

And sometimes, that means an innocent little ogre gets a face full of cactus needles.

When fear echoes through the city

For the seventh day of Inktober 2026, the word Panic immediately brought Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream to mind.

It is such a powerful image, one that communicates an overwhelming emotion without needing a single word.

Inspired by this expression of fear and anxiety, I wanted to introduce panic into my increasingly surreal city. Screams rise above the buildings, turning individual moments of fear into a collective experience.

What fascinates me is how panic can spread. One scream can trigger another, transforming a single emotion into something much larger.

As the composition continues to grow, the city becomes more than just a collection of buildings and strange encounters. It starts to develop its own atmosphere, emotions and unpredictable reactions.

And perhaps, with everything happening in this peculiar world, a little panic is only natural.

Eau de Toilette, straight from nature

For the eighth day of Inktober 2026, the word Stinky brought a rather unpleasant addition to my increasingly crowded surreal city.

What better place to explore unpleasant smells than a big city, where traffic fumes and exhaust gases already fill the air?

But nature has its own way of contributing to the atmosphere.

Enter a cheerful little skunk, proudly raising its tail and releasing its very own eau de toilette. A natural perfume powerful enough to disguise even the city’s pollution.

I love the irony of it. One unpleasant smell covering another, while our little skunk seems perfectly delighted with its contribution.

As the drawing continues to evolve, the boundaries between nature, humanity and urban life become increasingly blurred. Every new element changes the relationships between what is already there.

And sometimes, the most unexpected addition brings a little humour to the chaos.

Sometimes you need to break things open to move forward

For the ninth day of Inktober 2026, the word Ram arrived at just the right moment.

Looking at my drawing, I felt something was getting stuck. The composition was becoming increasingly crowded, while the remaining white spaces seemed disconnected from everything else.

Something needed to break through.

I decided to take a rather literal approach and introduced the curved horn of a ram. Instead of connecting it directly to the existing elements, I allowed it to stand on its own, breaking away from the established composition.

Perhaps it will reconnect with the rest of the drawing later. Perhaps not.

What interests me is how a simple interpretation of a word can become a solution to a compositional problem. The horn creates a new direction, opening up possibilities that weren’t there before.

Sometimes an artwork needs a little force to find its way forward.

Some mysteries are better left unanswered

For the tenth day of Inktober 2026, the word Mystical presented an interesting challenge.

There is certainly no shortage of mystery in this drawing. Even I, its creator, am beginning to lose my way among the strange encounters and unexpected connections.

So how do you introduce another mystery into a world that is already full of them?

My thoughts turned to the legendary oil lamp, the kind that holds a mysterious spirit waiting to be released.

Rather than revealing its secrets immediately, I focused on the lamp itself. By placing it in a strong perspective, I connected it to the existing composition while opening up the right side of the drawing.

The lamp becomes both a new element and a doorway to something unknown.

But the real question remains unanswered.

What will emerge when the spirit is finally released?

A lifeline in a world of chaos

For the eleventh day of Inktober 2026, the word Rescue immediately brought an old-fashioned lifebuoy to mind.

The kind you might have seen hanging from the railings of a steamship, perhaps even aboard the Titanic.

What fascinates me about these objects is their construction. The ropes wrapped around the circular body, the way they connect and follow its shape, and the contrast between the soft curves and the tension of the material.

Sometimes I feel like a cat playing with a piece of string. I simply cannot resist exploring how ropes twist, bend and interact with their surroundings.

Within the drawing, the cheerful skunk from an earlier day was sitting rather high in the composition. It needed something beneath it, a visual foundation to give it a stronger connection to the scene.

The lifebuoy offered exactly that.

Although, considering the skunk’s rather unpleasant perfume, I sincerely hope it won’t be the one waiting for me when I need rescuing.

A little chance, a little movement, and a leap of faith

For the twelfth day of Inktober 2026, the word Toss brought me to a familiar gesture: flipping a coin.

Heads or tails? Sometimes we simply leave things to chance and see where they land.

Today, however, I found myself struggling to connect the word to the existing drawing. The inspiration wasn’t flowing quite as naturally as on previous days.

Rather than forcing a complicated interpretation, I decided to embrace the simplicity of the gesture.

A coin, suspended in mid-air, captured in the middle of its movement.

By introducing a strong perspective and suggesting rotation, I wanted to give the object a sense of energy while creating more openness on the right side of the composition.

The coin became more than an isolated object. It introduced movement and another opportunity to connect the different elements within this increasingly surreal world.

Perhaps that is the beauty of leaving something to chance.

You never really know where it will land.

Finding balance in the most unlikely places

For the thirteenth day of Inktober 2026, the word Flimsy made me look at my drawing from a different perspective.

Personally, I was feeling quite stable that day. Both feet firmly on the ground.

But could I say the same about my drawing?

The ram’s horn from Day 9 was still floating rather independently within the composition. It had no real support, no explanation for how it could remain in that position.

It needed a foundation.

Inspired by my Buddhist perspective and the meditative practice of balancing stones, I began stacking irregular rocks behind the lifebuoy.

Each stone carefully positioned upon another, creating a delicate balance that seems almost impossible to maintain.

At the top of this fragile construction rests the ram’s horn.

What started as an isolated element now has a place within the composition, although its stability remains questionable.

I enjoy this contradiction. Something that appears solid and heavy can still be incredibly fragile when its entire existence depends on finding the perfect balance.

Perhaps stability is not about strength, but about understanding where everything belongs.

The seductive illusion of fortune

For the fourteenth day of Inktober 2026, the word Lady offered an opportunity to answer a question that had been waiting since Day 10.

What would emerge from the mysterious oil lamp?

A woman. A spirit. A seductive presence.

Elegant and seemingly effortless, she appears from the lamp, leaning against the coin that was tossed into the air just two days earlier.

Her presence creates a connection between mystery, chance and desire.

We summon the spirit, hoping for prosperity, fortune and perhaps a little luck. But what exactly are we asking for?

The coin represents the gamble, the uncertainty of leaving our future to chance. The lady embodies the temptation of wealth, promising something that may never truly exist.

There is something fascinating about the relationship between desire and illusion. We are easily seduced by the possibility of riches, even when the outcome remains entirely beyond our control.

And so, another connection emerges within the drawing.

The mysterious lamp, the spinning coin and the seductive spirit become part of a single story.

But is she offering fortune, or merely the illusion of it?