INKtober - Day 1 of 31 - Amy Winehouse

Hello friends,

Well today marks the start of INKtober! I didn't complete it last year (got to 19 if memory serves me correctly) but I thought I would try it again this year. (Just checked and I actually made it to 24.)

Recently, my son and I watched a documentary on Netflix titled, Amy.

I must admit that I'd never heard much of Amy Winehouse apart from the occasional news segment about her doing drugs and then, of course, her death at only 27 years old. I didn't even know what type of music she performed but, after watching the documentary, my heart broke for her.

Amy was a young woman who adored music and even wrote her own songs. Amy classified her music genre as a mix of jazz and hip-hop. She had an amazing voice!  Sadly, Amy was not prepared for all the fame and media attention that stardom would bring her. She was overwhelmed by it all. She fell for the wrong guy who ended up marrying her and then introducing her to hard drugs. On top of that, she was bulimic since her teens which didn't help.  Amy adored her father who appeared to enjoy the limelight more than she did — even starred in his own reality show about being Amy Winehouse's father.

She had a few very close friends who saw the self-destructive path Amy was on and, at one stage, they pleaded with the father to encourage Amy to go into rehab but her father said she'd be fine. They also begged her father and manager to not let her tour but they both seemed more interested in the tour bookings and not wanting to cancel. It was clear that his daughter needed help. At one point, Amy didn't even want to go on tour but they bundled her up and sent her anyway.

The media/photographers had a field day and, seeing it all unfold in the documentary, their harassment of Amy reminded me very much of what they did to Princess Diana. I'm sorry but I'm of the opinion that, just because someone becomes famous, it does NOT mean their private lives should be available to one and all. They are not demi-Gods, people, so leave them alone and allow them some privacy!

Not long before her death, Amy had told a close friend that, if she could give up all the fame and go back to the life she had before, she would.

Amy did go to rehab and was drug-free at the time of her death.  However, she did indulge in alcohol and that is what killed her in the end.  An autopsy report showed that Amy was something like five times over the safe limit and her heart just stopped beating.

I would definitely recommend this documentary...in fact, I watched it twice because it affected me that much.

In honour of Amy and her amazing talent, I chose to kick off INKtober with a sketch of her.

Starting with a loose pencil sketch

Then inked using a Platinum Carbon fountain pen

To finish off, I used Sumi ink with a brush and also a Pentel Pocket brush ink pen

To end off this post,  I thought you might like to watch/listen to one of my favourite songs performed by Amy Winehouse. And the direct link if the video doesn't work for you...click HERE.

NOTE - I'm not sure yet but I will probably post a weekly update with my INKtober sketches as I don't think I'll have time to post daily.

Stay tuned...