Monthly Archive for October, 2008

In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.

Published on October 31, 2008 in Plain Paper, Portraits and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , .
Kat Johnston - yup... its officially true. I've cracked. Ok, not really, but by the look of that little face... I don't think I'd want to get on Pinky here's crazy...er side. Never trust a person that smiles too much - taint natural to be too happy.

I’m doing another advance write-up for today, even though I haven’t yet done the picture to go in here. It just seems easier when I know that, again, I am going to be working fairly solidly throughout the day on last-minute polishing of assignment work before I hand in my very last assignment ever (one would hope).

Tomorrow (as in the day after this is posted, not at the time it is actually written), I am heading off to Sydney for a few days to attend a housewarming, get away from things, spend some time with friends and all that jazz. In short: uni over, time to relax. At least for a little while.

Now, to be honest, I’m not even sure that the people that I am staying with have a scanner. I’m not so sure how my commitment to an image a day is going to go while I am down there. However, I know that there has to be at least one digital camera around, and if all else fails, I can still write a post and put up a nice big IOU. Hell, I might even fall back on doing something with a mouse in Paint if it means that there is something up to continue this project exactly as it is meant to continue.

I’ve become rather attached to it. I haven’t missed a day in quite a while, and I don’t really plan to miss a day just because I am out of town, either. There might be some sporadic posting times, depending on when I happen to be online, but hopefully I can still stick with the commitment of a creative product a day. We’ve all seen some of the doozies I’ve thrown up before when I’ve been strapped for time or resources – it kinda just goes to show to me that it doesn’t matter. It is the continued resolve, not the actual images themselves that make this particularly worth-while to me. Yes, the pictures are important. They’re vitally important. They’re what this is all about. But if it takes a few shabby ones up with the rest to stay in the habit of doing what I love, then so be it. See you in Sydney!

Spooky: This was written before it was posted. Hello me from the past…

Published on October 30, 2008 in Sketch. 0 Comments
Kat Johnston: Here we have an illustration of the standard 'marketing assignment of doom', seen in its natural habitat... isolated from absolutely anything to do with actual reality.

And this is the picture I put together quickly this morning to have something to throw up to go with the post below. Phew! Ok… back to work… again.

I’m writing another post to be published fairly early today: I am still working away rather studiously on my final assignments to have them all perfect and squeaky clean and fresh to be handed in. I can’t get too excited and relax quite yet. I still have to make sure that these are done and dusted and perfectly perfect just to make sure that I pass with flying colours and never have to see university again… at least for this degree.

Actually, I am writing this post so early, its kinda still the day before it is published… ohhh, spooky. I haven’t drawn or captured the picture to go with yet (says me in the past, while this is still yet unpublished). I will add that in the morning, when I need another break from the last mad dash towards the finishing line. Just two more days. Two more days, and academic freedom is mine. I hope. Heaven forbid something goes wrong, because I think I would scream bloody murder and tear something down if that were to happen.

Now… onto what I was actually going to talk about today. Does anyone else find it incredibly and brilliantly amusing that the anchovy snacks my hubby bought while we were at the Asian market the other day is produced by a brand called ‘Miaow Miaow’ with a little grinning cat as their logo?I love it. Its wonderful. It gives me wonderful platform to mock my husband, further implying that he is eating glorified cat-food.

Ok, that is the end of my crazy, rambling late-night ravings. I may edit this a touch more in the morning, before I post it, but the likelihood is that I won’t. Time for me to enjoy some sweet strawberry chocolate candy thingies, and do some more tippity typing while I’m up for it. More later!

An IOU, musing on subliminal messaging in assignments and a word on backing up your work.

Published on October 29, 2008 in Plain Paper. 0 Comments Tags: .
Kat Johnston: IOU one actual drawing. Yes, one that doesn't come with dandelions or flies or faces or kitty cats, just because I am too lazy to do anything really actually creative.

A little hand-written note for you today! I need to get posting out of the way early, so that I can get back to polishing off my second-last assignment of the semester: a marketing plan. I’m sending myself incremental updates as I go, just in case something, heaven forbid, happens between today and tomorrow, when it is due in.

Our faculty isn’t like others: you don’t just get marked down if its a day late, you fail. There’s no excuses, unless you were somehow involved in an industrial accident, or crashed your car (and are near-dead because of it), or something else major and unstoppable that keeps you from being able to hand it in exactly on time, to the minute. I, for one, am really not up for staging such an affair, since I rather enjoy having all my limbs attached and don’t particularly like bleeding for the cause, so much easier just to have back-ups in a place other than my own personal computer.

I’m so close to graduating, I’m not letting this machine screw it up for me if it decides to take a day-trip to the planet of Not-worky-worky.

Ok… I have to get back to my assignment and get it looking all nice and shiny so that it dazzles my lecturer into a state of near-hypnosis, ensuring that she will recieve the not-so-subtle message of ‘write an A, write an A’ as she reads it. The paper, lightly watermarked with ‘give the damn girl an A’ all over it might hopefully help too. I know they don’t like subliminal messages in advertising, but does it really count if its just in an assignment? Hmm… I guess only time will tell.

Two more days. Then freedom is mine.

Lazy. That is what it is.

Published on October 28, 2008 in dandelions, Lined Paper, Personal and Sketch. 1 Comment Tags: , , .
Kat Johnston Sketch - little quickie dandelion-inspired ramblings on a piece of lined paper.

This, my dears, is laziness. Pure laziness. This is ‘I don’t feel like drawing anything really today’ at its finest.

I picked up a pen, and this is what we’ve got: dandelion-inspired type flowers, because I still have dandelions on the mind. In fact, I even went and plucked one of my childhood books off of the shelves to read one little story again since I was talking about dandelions on here yesterday. Its one that has stuck with me since I was a little kiddley-wink.

I still have most of my childhood books – you can’t believe how fantastic it was to be able to collect them from my parent’s house a couple of years back and bring them to rest in my own little library, where they should be. I love them to utter bits. But, I’ve digressed… let me tell you a little about the story.

It is called ‘Thirteen O’Clock’, by Enid Blyton and it tells the story of a little boy called Sandy who blows at a marvellous dandelion clock – puff, puff, puff! He counts the hours, as we all should do, and reaches the magical fae hour of thirteen o’clock (no, not military time, a magical little hour that lies between twelve and one – happens only once in a blue moon, you know). With that, his adventure begins – the regular sort of stuff of Enid Blyton fairy tale… you know, witches and pixies and magic brooms and morals which aren’t so subtle when you look at it twice.

I loved those stories as a child: I still do. I go back and actually read the books I read as a kid. Although the language is more simple than what I might read on a day to day basis, my lord, they are still great stories. The incredible visions that can be bought to mind with just a few words, their ability to spark the imagination, to make you remember that despite the fact that you still have to find a way to pay the bills next week there is still wonder in the world… I just love it.

Now, this is not the only reason that I like dandelions… but it is one of them. Ever since first reading that story, I have picked dandelion clocks and puffed, puffed, puffed, counting off the hours, hoping that just that once… I might reach thirteen.

Vivid yellow dandelions… mmm, a dandelion daydream.

Published on October 27, 2008 in 'The Hubby', dandelions and Photos. 0 Comments Tags: , , .
Vivid yellow dandelions, a pure, pleasurable treat to the senses. A pox upon those who see this precious flower as a weed.

So… the hubby reads the post of yesterday and disappears from the house for a few minutes. I wondered where he had gotten to. He really is a rather nice ogre, after all, all things considered. I peeked my head outside the front door to see what he was doing, only to find him pottering around on the lawn, snipping up the dandelions to make a little bouquet for me. He had to mow the lawn soon anyway, so he thought he might as well save them and give them to me to enjoy for a few days more instead of pulverizing them with the mower. Isn’t that sweet?

So, rather than putting up a drawing today, I present to you a photo of some of the wonderful dandelions that adorned my front yard, scattered amongst the green. Still fresh, vivid in their pure, wonderful yellowness – a weed to some, visual and imaginative bliss to me. Van Gogh had his sunflowers, I have my dandelions. I love ‘em to bits. I can probably tell you why, too, but perhaps that is a story for another day. Thank you for the dandelions, sweetie.

I might go through the photos in a little bit and pick out the best, to put up on flickr. I’ll let you know if I do! Oh, and I’m adding a dandelions category too… its about time, really.

Edit: No James, I really don’t want all your ogre babies. Pfft!