Sketchbook

Charlie's Ballad - Charlie the cat playing lute watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

Little Stories – Happy Tunes

Posted on December 11, 2025
by Soma Acharya
Bookmaking, Kitties, Knitting, Paintings, Photography, Quilting, Travel

During the past few weeks, I was very determined to shake off this lackluster feeling I have been having. I took a few day trips to the surrounding areas with my husband. I started working on a quilt and a knitted sweater. I also spent happy hours binding tiny books and working on this painting of our kitty Charlie.

The Golden Gate Recreation area is a huge natural and historical area which is right by the bridge. Although we drive over Golden Gate Bridge to San Fransisco often, we hardly ever stop here. One Sunday afternoon we went to explore that area and stayed until the bridge lights came on. The coastal clouds never left the shore that day.

There is a walkway that crosses under the bridge, connecting to a trail by the ocean. We walked there until it got too dark for us to walk any further without lights.

Northern California has many coastal redwood forests and one of them is about an hour and a half drive. It is on a beautiful road that we have taken to the coast a few times, but never stopped at the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. With a packed picnic lunch, a flask of tea and some snacks, we set off on our way there.

There are a few trails that climb up from the parking lot, leaving the redwood forest. I wanted to walk along the redwoods, so we stayed on the main trail. It was beautiful; parts of it reminded us of the Redwood National Park much further up north.

A few months ago, my husband passed his private pilot license exam with flying colors. Aside from road trips, I also went with him on a short jaunt between two airports, which was a lot of fun.

At home, I had been pondering how to finish the Garden Path quilt. After the walk in the forest, I decided on getting a pale green fabric for the back of the quilt. During my winter break, I am going to finish this one.

I also picked knitting back up again. I am a super slow knitter. I am hoping to finish this sweater by next winter, so my husband can wear it then.

I was binding a larger book for watercolor painting. When stitching books, I need to pay attention to the tension of the stitch. That day I was being a bit heavy-handed, which resulted in my tearing the gentle watercolor paper at the needle hole. I cut up those discarded papers to make two little black watercolor books. They joined my other tiny 3.0″ x 1.0″ green book.

This one is 3.50″ x 2.0″. I made a double inset on this one and then affixed pieces of gold on black washi tape in them. I am going to fill this book with happy, cheerful little paintings.

With the size of 1.50″ x 2.0″, this is the smallest book I have made so far. There is a little verse in The Lord of the Rings that I love. I am going to paint tiny little scenes from that verse in this book. I drew the front picture with a fountain pen, and glued it into the little inset. I will be adding color to it as well.

The pages are all counted to fit the verse. I even added teeny tiny bands at the head and tail of the book.

November was mostly spent working on the painting of our kitty Charlie and his lute. I drew this picture of him a couple of years ago.

I was feeling unwell in November and was sapped out of all energy. Working on this painting really brought me back to a more cheerful state. Charlie is a happy boy and it is hard to feel melancholy when I am creating anything with him in mind. I made a few changes to it before setting out to paint it.

Last time I shared this little sketch of him. I familiarized myself with the color of his fur with this one before embarking on the larger painting.

Very few things in my life have made me happier than our kitty Charlie. He has always been just a very happy boy with a penchant for “singing”.

He wrote a song for his beloved big sister who didn’t want to hear him sing just at that moment. So, on that day, he sat under a tree in his best clothes and sang his heart out while playing a lute.

I wrote a new ballaaaaaad

But now I am so saaaaad

She won’t hear my new song

Where did I go wrooooong.

He gave me permission to share his song as long as I added the correct inflections. He is very particular about them!

Even the thought of this makes me smile. I hope it does the same for you too! I had a lot of fun choosing the colors. I love painting with watercolor. I got lost in the painting for hours while working on it.

I will see you again in February after my winter holiday. I am looking forward to exploring the sleepy, quiet winter world outside, clad in my favorite woolens. Long hours of playing video games and watching anime with my husband has become a beloved tradition. I am also looking forward to spending extra time with my ink and paper friends along with warm beverages and kitty cuddles. I wish you all a season full of happiness and laughter as well.

Until then,
-Soma

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The Ink Torrents Graphics shop remains open. I will continue to mail orders, as always. You can also purchase quilting patterns, which you can access immediately via Instant Download. I will also be available via email. Thank you for continuing to shop from my store, so I can support my favorite rescue organizations.

Design Elements

One of the best parts of sending packages to friends is that I get to play with new ideas. I like to approach things systematically. Once I am happy with a design, I plan out most of the steps with room for needed modification before I start working. This year I got to make a few things for a couple of friends, and I was excited about that. I used design elements from my travels which made them extra fun.

My friend Dixie and I send each other little surprise packages every now and then. In the last package, I included a tiny little 1″ x 3″ book for this artist friend of mine.

Before I made the book for her, I made a book of the same dimensions for myself first. Because of their size, these little books can be a little fiddly to make, and I didn’t want any surprises while making hers. It looks like a lot of tools for a 1″ x 3″ book cover, but I really did use all of them. No matter the size of the book, sometimes I end up using the same set of tools.

I thought of walks in the woods, amongst moss-covered trees and rocks, Celts and druids when making this book. Hence the colors. The washi tape on the cover could not be a better match.

Once I was happy with mine, I made this blue book for her. She loves flowers and the color blue. So I made hers with blue cloth and added a little yellow flower on the cover.

This is the wonderful package filled with cards, bookmarks, stickers and art supplies Dixie sent me. She sends me small surprise packages every now and then. She also somehow knows exactly what I need. I needed a new kneaded eraser, and (not) surprisingly I found one inside the box.

She is quite the artist. The card is made from one of her paintings and the bookmark is made by her too. Do visit her website at Arranged Words for very peaceful reads and beautiful works of art.

Both of us share a love for Sennelier watercolor paints. She included a tube of Quinacridone Gold. I am very used to the color itself, but from a different brand. However, watercolor varies a lot depending on the brand, so I was eager to see how this one would behave.

I always start with drawing in my sketchbook, then copying the drawing over to watercolor paper for painting. This way the watercolor paper gets a clean copy of the drawing and the paper is not damaged from continuous eraser usage.

I love to visit old ruins when we travel. I decided to paint a small sandstone ornament.

Quinacridone gold is an orange to yellow hue shifting color. Creating a monochromatic painting is a great way to learn about a color / pigment. I learn about how the pigment moves with water and the dark/light values this way. I loved the way Sennelier’s Quin. gold behaves and how gentle it looks. I can’t wait to use it for a larger painting next.

This year, I did an exchange with another friend of mine. I will share the amazing package I got from her another day. She hand-stitches a lot, so I made a sewing needle book for her. I designed the book, then worked from my plan one step at a time – first on mine, and then on hers.

I had medieval style notebooks in mind when I designed them, so I made them using book binding methods. I bonded two pieces of faux leather together for the cover to get that look. I could also show off those colorful linen threads with the stitches I chose.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

I added tons of pockets for supplies and included notes pages for projects. I thought of heather at the English and Scottish countryside when choosing colors for the woolen felt I used for the inside and for the threads. I added a print of a little drawing I did of a bridge in Mull, Scotland quite a few years ago.

I am looking forward to using mine for hand stitching and knitting as well.

Concertina books are very fun books to make by accordion folding paper. I needed to join two sets of folded paper to extend the length of the book. I tried out a few options using plain copy paper before using my good paper for the final book.

At the end, I used a strip of strong Japanese paper to join two pieces of folded watercolor paper together. The join is hardly visible, and it also makes both sides of the book usable.

You can of course leave the folded paper books as is or add covers. I decided to make cloth hardcovers. For the front cover, I made this drawing of the Glenfinnan viaduct in Scotland. The inset on the cover keeps the artwork protected from rubbing / shelf damage.

Here is my copy of the finished book. I used heavy watercolor paper, so I can use both sides of the paper. I am thinking of using it for ink paintings. If you any have ideas other than painting, I would love to hear them.

Sometimes it is a long path from design to finish, and I enjoy every bit of it while playing with glue, paper and scissors. I hope this inspires you to try something new too.

Until next time,
-Soma

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