2021 A to Z Challenge Reflections

By the time I arrive to this point of the annual A to Z blogfest,  I’m exhausted and experiencing a bit of a brain freeze.  What can I say about this year’s challenge?  That it’s better to have posts done before things start? You betcha!  Is it easy to just go with the flow without worry?   Not usually, in the past I would’ve definitely said no to “just go with the flow” but this year I actually found myself doing that and was okay with it.  I finally got it through my head that this is blogging and THIS is meant to be fun. 

I had a few shortcomings this year, like replying to messages on my blog and doing all return visits but to my surprise I didn’t have a melt down in the process.  Why is that?  Simple, I listened to a lot of music.  Two of my oldest blogging friends, John and Mary, used music as their A to Z themes creating long playlists for a continual rush of background music to my ears.  Playlists are wonderful! 

Bloggers featuring music I naturally gravitate to and there were a few others but they usually shared one or two songs with either personal sentiments or tidbits about the artist which I fell behind on and plan to finish.  I find it difficult to keep my mid focused on anything wordy.  That’s quite ironic considering most of the content I publish is just that, wordy.  Talk about a screwed up brain, huh?  However, I enjoy reading about someone’s life especially when it clicks with me and that’s what I found with Barbie at Crackerberries.  For 26 days, she wrote letters to herself which were well-written and entertaining, often  putting a smile on my face.  If last month’s challenge wasn’t enough, she started May off with a photo challenge. She’s puts me shame.

Joyce is another one who embodied collective thoughts of what she wants her grandkids to know someday in her April posts.  Isn’t that a beautiful idea?  I love it and plan to borrow it to do a series.

Random posts can be interesting.  That’s what Lissa did this year and while I’m still catching up with her, I like how she presented her posts and naturally I love her accompanying artwork.  She’s illustrates beautifully! 

Travel blogs are nice but what I really like reading is about places people have been that  I know.  Arlee Bird shared his of Rivers of America series which wouldn’t interest me otherwise had it not been for the author.  His words pulled me into his visits or sentiments of the area.  Alana shared her New York Cities (not to be confused with the Big Apple) series of memories, landscapes, and historical sites. 

I touched only on handful of terrific A2Zers.  There are others and perhaps if I can successfully massage the Road Trip into my normal routine that I can tell you about others I enjoyed in April.  

Ultimately, the thing I learned is NEVER think that I will sit out on the A to Z Challenge.  That was not the wisest of thinking.  I knew deep down I wouldn’t abide by my decision.  Lesson learned, won’t make this mistake next time.

Another thing I learned is there’s something magical about unlocking childhood memories.  I felt overall by the comments left that everyone enjoyed my sketch series this year.  My Looney Tune drawings allowed everyone to reminisce of fun bygone days and I think the YouTube cartoon videos helped a lot, too.

I’m looking forward to savoring the experience all over as I bring each pencil drawing to life with color.  I think I’ll do that right now!  Generally, I share my updated A2Z illustrations in alphabet order but I’m breaking that rule.  Why not?  I didn’t keep to my normal way of doing things last month anyhow, so this won’t make any difference. 🙂   I used my sketch of Foghorn Leghorn (direct link at bottom of post) for DS’s 27th birthday this past weekend.  Here’s my Procreate (digital art sketch) re-creation.

 

I added a speech bubble in my revised illustration to use for his card design and if you like how this turned out, then you’re welcome to download a copy of this birthday card below but if you’d like for me to personalize the ‘Happy Birthday’  with someone’s name, then shoot me your request via email and I’ll get it to you asap.  😉

The layout of the second page which is the inside of the card will print correctly if your printer can print on two sides, but if yours doesn’t and you know how to flip the page correctly then you’ll get the same results. 

I invite you to subscribe to my posts via email (side menu) so to not miss a single colorized Looney Tunes Art Sketch issue. 

I’m sending a big round of applauds to everyone who crossed the A2Z finishing line with me as well special thanks to the enthusiastic and dedicated co-hosts who bring this challenge to us each year.   I’m heading over to the A to Z headquarters to see who’s sharing ‘Reflection’ posts.  Join me for my mid-week linky party where just about anything goes with Wild Wednesdays.  Until then,  That’s all folks! X💋X💋 Cathy

 

My Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch links:

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20 comments

  1. I thought I had read and posted a comment here but it seems I didn’t. My memory is really bad these days.

    Anyway, your leghorn drawings is great. I’m pretty sure I didn’t know the name of 80% of the characters you drew for the A-Z challenge even though I have seen them before but thanks for giving name and info for each character.

    Have a lovely day.

    1. Lissa,

      No worries, my dear! My memory isn’t the best, either. That’s why I have to make notes galore to stay ahead of the game. In the Looney Tunes series I knew the stars of the series but most others I didn’t know the character names or just forgot. I appreciate you coming over for a visit. Have a good evening!

    1. Andrew,

      Life was a bit hectic last month, was it not? I plan to catch up with you in the coming weeks. Thanks for visiting, my friend.

  3. Wonderful recap, Cathy! You did fabulous with the A2Z Challenge. Your idea was unique and undeniably, you put a lot of time and work into it. You deserve a Bravo, my friend. 🥳

  5. You did GREAT! Really great, both with the art, and with all those cartoon memories of my childhood. (Well, not all of them; I am too old to remember some of your characters, who were “after my time”.) Like you, I didn’t have time to socialize much with other A to Zers, even though I now work part time and not full time. I love the birthday card! It’s too bad that my husband’s birthday for this year has already passed but next year is a milestone birthday for him and I know he loves Foghorn as much as I do. Now, I just have to remember to put a reminder somewhere to print and give to him next year! (and thank you for the shoutout, always appreciated.)

  6. Great job with the recap! Your card is so cute. I think not visiting other bloggers enough is a challenge for everyone.

  8. Thanks for your acknowledgement of my Rivers series. I didn’t plan much ahead other than a few days at a time, but I kept my post short so it wasn’t too bad. Like you mentioned, I didn’t get around to other blogs as much as I would have liked, but I just don’t spend as much time on the computer as I used to.

    You had a great theme this year and did a commendable job in delivering your daily posts. Congratulations on making it through to the end of another Challenge!

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    1. Lee,

      I think you did a fabulous job. I’m in awe of people like you who can pull together posts on short notice. You’re a nature at it!

  9. Wonderful recap of last month. You also did some nice shout-outs to some of the other A2Z participants. I think the best part of this post is you didn’t stress yourself out. You’re right it’s supposed to be fun. Yours was most fun and thank you for letting me enjoy real cartoons from back in the day.

    Have a fabulous day, Cathy. Love and hugs. ♥

    1. Sandee,

      I’m so happy you enjoyed my sketch series last month. I wouldn’t mind doing more cartoon characters next year but I’d also like to devote time to learn how to sketch real people’s likeness. That’s an area I’m totally weak on and one that scares me a bit. Let’s see if I can find my brave and tackle that one next April. 🙂 Thanks for dropping in today, my friend!

  10. Dear Cathy, you have totally out done yourself again. Love the downloadable birthday card and it just so happens I’ve got some birthdays coming up! Thank you for the honorable♥ mention, I got tears in my eyes as I was reading and still am choked up with your kindness. Still choked up…can barely type. So happy we connected (need your address). As soon as I finish my own little road trip I got going here and pass the state license exam I want to do some more connecting. I like the blog hopping idea (never have done that) and the battle of the bands. I would like to try one day. It’s been so much fun and I cannot wait to see what you have planned for next year. I cant’ agree with you more about having the posts done up ahead of time to have more time to socialize. Thank you my new found friend….may we have many more years of blogging together ahead of us. You can read my Reflections

    Have a great day!
    Cheers,
    Crackerberries

    1. Barbie,

      You’re welcome, my dear! Look for a reply to your email. I am going to do the Road Trip at least until I can get everyone taken care of. I created my own spreadsheet to log which posts I’ve visited. This is a big help to see what I need to do. Blog hopping consumes a lot of time but if you’re in Blogosphere anyhow, then it’s a great way to broaden your bloggy circle. You mentioned my BoTB, whether you actually create your own battle showdown or not, you can still cast a vote for your favorite cover artist. It’s open to anyone wants to have a say-so. Thanks for dropping by today, my friend. Here’s hoping your weather is better than ours!

  12. Hi, Cathy!

    I enjoyed reading your A to Z Reflections summary, dear friend. I agree that blogging should be fun and that rules were meant to be broken. Why not? To me, blogging is an art form, a form of creative expression. It is fun for you the author as well as for the reader when you shake things up occasionally. I wish somebody would invent the 100 hour day because there are so many blogs I would love to follow, so much I am missing. I applaud you for managing to get your own high quality content published on time while checking out so many other bloggers’ A to Z series. Your Looney Tunes theme brought back many fond memories of my youth, educated me and made me curious as a Cathy, prompting me to do extra reading and research on the side to gain more insight into the characters you presented. I had a great time with your 2021 A to Z and hope you will continue to show us your art talent.

    Your Foghorn sketch really pops In Living Color! I had to laugh at the caption. I’m sure the barnyard dog wanted something more for his birthday than having his head zonked by a mallet. 🙂

    Congratulations again on a very successful A to Z run, dear friend Cathy, and enjoy the rest of your week!

    1. Tom,

      You’re such a good and loyal friend. I can’t tell you how much your thoughtfulness means to me and the encouragement is immeasurable. It does my heart good to know that you enjoyed this art sketch series. I know I had a blast not only trying my hand at replicating images I found but watching those old Looney Tune shorts. What priceless entertainment that is! Yeah, you’re right Barnyard Dawg probably wanted something more than a zonk on the head for his birthday. The caption seemed to work out perfectly for the scene and I couldn’t resist using for our son’s birthday card. Thank you for making this year a success, my friend!

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