Featuring the artwork, musings and sketches of Brisbane-based artist Kat Johnston. Updated daily with regular content.
Yet another sketch-book started… this time one that I picked up from Ikea. It currently contains - you guessed it - bunnies!
Its going to be a short post today… I have Chasing Amy to go watch. Its just past the ‘What’s a nubian?’ part, which just happens to be my favourite part of the entire damn movie. I’ve watched Clerks and Mallrats in the past couple of days - time to watch the rest through.
Ok… off I go!
Another day, another little something for the site! Today a sketch - I’ve been a little lazy with Second Life today. That said, if you’re in a creative mood today, I suggest you head over to my Sanu flickr account and name the ice-cream. Go onnnnn… they’re full of ice-creamery goodness!
In honor of thinking about ice-cream all day, I would like to posit that ice-cream does really grow on trees. At the very least, it does when I says it does. Money does too, so long as the boundaries between reality and my imagination are well and truly blurred, and there is no need for me to actually spend said money from said money trees. After all, lets face it - nobody wants rotting leaves in their cash register. Its just messy.
Actually, when you think about it, if money did grow on trees and the money grown on said trees behaved as leaves do, I think it would be a rather interesting situation indeed. Would the seeds of a money tree be coinage? Would there be different types of trees for each of the denominations, or would it simply be a case of seed and flower or leaf development?
Eg, does a money tree start off planted with a 1c coin (or 5c here in Australia, since we don’t go down at low as a cent), and as it matures it works it way up until its sprouting notes, which increase in denomination as the money-blooms mature, or do you need a whole separate plant to sprout the five dollar notes and the ten? Is the money it sprouts the leaves or the ‘flowers’, and if it comes in the form of the flowers, what are the leaves? Deposit slips? Cheque books?
I, for one, think that it is a thought entirely worthy of pondering. I think I might come up with a whole philosophy regarding it given enough time to ponder. Pondering is fun.
I love a happy ending. I do. Its one of those things that gets me all warm and squishy and gushy inside. I love it!
You see, I’ve been playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney… its the reason I haven’t been on SL much today. Anyhow… without turning this post into something that looks like a paid advertisement for both the Ace Attorney series and Nintendo, just let me say that I am a huge Phoenix Wright fan-girlie and he can scream ‘Objection!’ at me any day.
And the thing that I like best about the games? They’re interactive fiction… meaning that they come to a nice, fulfilling end (for now). You get the cute montage of characters saying good-bye in their own different ways, the ending theme music, and you’ve not only solved the case, you’ve also made a difference. Yuppers - its the same feeling I get when I finish a good book… sad to see it go, but happy that I’ve been able to see it through to its conclusion. Lets just say that its not the same with a shoot-em-up, ok?
Anyhow, as with a good book, you want to move onto the next one as soon as you can, don’t you? Argh! The next one isn’t scheduled for release in Japan until the 29th of May, and who knows if that is going to include the English version there and then - otherwise I may have to wait even longer! Oh dear… what am I going to do? I may have to satisfy myself listening to fantastic Phoenix Wright music (and remixes) on Youtube until then.
Oh, the sketch for today was just done while listening to the remix above - I love the Ace Attorney music, but this remix just rocks in its own right. My sketch is a fairly accurate representation of how big my smile was at the end of the game. Ok… not accurate at all… mine was bigger!
A friend of mine, Anicia Medici (fabulous owner of Sugar Mill), asked me recently as a favor to recolour one of my existing pieces to include black and silver, rather than the default colouration. I did so happily, but the suggestion further fueled me to create a full set of jewelry with that particular thought in mind. This is the result of that inspiration - something deliciously delicate and detailed, with little gemstone drops to add just the right touch of elegance to the set.
While the bigger set actually contains no black at all, the additional set (which was actually created first) definately fulfills the criteria. It adds just that little extra spice to something quite nice, don’t you think?
Also added… the Harvest set! Yes, I know I’m rolling a lot of new release info into the one post, but I’ve been really busy. The harvest set was actually created quite a while back, but I never got around to doing it up for sale - I finally got myself into gear and got it ready to go. Phew!
Ok, final image for tonight. Adding to my ever-delicious line of foodstuffs and other novelty items, this is, well, just exactly what it looks like. A seven scoop cone of ice-creamery goodness. Mmmmm, tasty!
Oh, please forgive the banner cycling by the way… I’m trying something new! I may be testing for a couple of days, so please forgive the icky designs til I work out something just right.
Today has been a long day, made no shorter by the fact that something made me rather grumbley earlier on in the day. That aside though… this is a new release in the Sanu store. My group yesterday, after me handing out a freebie, went into a bit of a discussion about gummy bears. Radio, the incredibly talented owner of Scribble, went ‘you know… I can make gummy bears’, so we put our heads together and came up with some stuff.
Something inside me squeals out in delight when it comes to combining the intricately detailed scrollwork I put into my most elaborate pieces with something as (lets face it) patently rediculous as gummy bears. I think just about anyone can take a gummy bear and do raver jewelry and so forth with it - I think it takes a special hand to turn it into something not only fun, but can also be admired on more than the 2-second novelty value it provides because it is, well, made with gummy bears. Does that make sense? Say what you will, I don’t think everybody can do it… so I feel special, because I think I have.
That’s not to say, by the way, that I don’t absolutely love full on novelty stuff (why the hell would I say that? Half my store is dedicated to it!) but yeah… its nice to try and push the envelope a little to create something super special with that touch of something unique in it at the same time - not just jewelry, not just novelty… a little of both. Like my tiniest bunneh monocles, of which I have produced a few.
This is the special rainbow set, now available in the lucky chair. After all, gummy bears and rainbows do just seem right together, don’t they? Sanu: taking virtual food to a whole new level.
So I had to take my sister into the city yesterday - she is such a smart little cookie she got herself accepted to a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and this is her first time at university! As it so happened, I stuck around to check out the introductory lecture covering a little of the course stuff… mainly to show her where the building is, but hey, I got a free baggie out of it too, and a chuppa chup.
Because I, for one, don’t actually intend to take a degree in biomedical science (lacking the basic skills in anything remotely biomedical), I spent the lecture doing a few sketches of people around the room in a brand new little sketch-book I grabbed the other day at Ikea. Again, I have to say that these packet of 30c pens have just been far too fun for words… they’ve made me bounce over to a style I usually neglect, generally opting instead for a finer, shaded, measured approach. Having but one tone to offer, these pens are fairly unforgiving in the matter of sketch-marks… its go and be damned if you get it wrong, because there’s naught way to fix it once the stroke is made. Its fun!
And that, my friends, is my final word for the night. Its time for me to head to my slumber, to dream of pixels and prims and other things that make me go ‘ohhhh, pretty things!’
Some more Sanu stuff for today, and fun things besides! Today I’ve released a couple new items, one of them being another limited edition release: the Geartime Locket set. This set perfectly matches the Geartime monocle, which is no longer available for purchase. Only 50 will be sold, only 42 are left at the second of this posting, so you’d better move quick if you want it!
Last night I was playing around, making more pretty things… pretty things are pretty, after all. This monocle set was the result of that playing. I may yet do a full additional set to match these monocles, because I think that I can make something quite refined to match. I love how the rich, deep copper and the lighter blush of the pink compliment each other so beautifully.
Anyhow, that’s it for the Sanu releases today. Stay tuned for some sketches!
Yes, I’ve been neglectful of updates over the past couple of days… yeep! I’ve been so busy releasing new stuff for Sanu that it just slid by the wayside. The picture above is just the first - a monocle I made a little while back originally for my Lucky Chair, now available for people to buy. It comes with two monocles and the earrings to match. Isn’t it cute?
I’ve recently moved into a brand new location - a sim called Scribble. With the move, you just know I had to update the Lucky Chair with something a bit new and exciting to celebrate the new location. Therefore I made… you guessed it… monocles! They’re now properly signed (rather than the temporary one I popped in store) and added to the regular line. I will be updating the lucky chair with something new fairly soon, so keep an eye out.
Also up in store now is an additional set of jewelry designed to match the Scribble monocles. I did want to display the monocle in the signage too, to show it all together… but… well, you just know that someone out there isn’t going to read the text on the sign with the great big letters saying ‘MONOCLES NOT INCLUDED’ and see the sign above it saying ‘Monocles’ and still not connect the dots. Am I jaded? A little. But lets face it - it would happen. Disgruntled IMs from indignant customers make me grumbley.
This one is not a new release - but I thought I should throw it up here anyway. This is the limited edition Geartime monocle to fulfil the request of a few people for something a bit more steampunky. Only fifty will be sold until they are no longer available at all - and there are less than 5 left in store! So the thing is, if you want one, you’d better move quick.
Phew! That’s enough of the Sanu stuff for now - I should be posting a sketch later today, if I can find the time (and my damn back would stop aching). Have a great day all!
Some may knock Second Life, but say what you will: if ever there was an example of ‘every little bit counts’, this is one of them. Nigh on everyone at this point has heard about the bushfires raging down in Victoria and the subsequent devastation caused by them - including most of the people who spend at least part of their time in Second Life.
One Second Life resident has put out a plea for donations to go towards the Australian Red Cross Appeal to aid with Bushfire relief - many vendors have answered that call by setting up donation kiosks and selling items with either part or all of the proceeds from their sale going directly towards the appeal fund. For a list of participating vendors, please see here.
Sanu has also joined in offering an item for those who wish to donate - 100% of the proceeds for these tiniest koalas will go directly towards the Victorian Bushfire Appeal and they are transferable for easy gift-giving. Why did I make koalas? My family here is intimately involved with the care of orphaned and injured wild-life, giving them a home and raising them until such a point as they can be released back into the wild. Some of you may have seen the images of koalas who have been affected by this sudden heat-wave down south, and of course, the subsequent burning of their habitat. Along with the human cost of these horrendous fires, the cost to our wildlife is high.
If you are a resident of Second Life, consider teleporting to Sanu and either purchasing this item, or simply donating to the cause using the donation kiosk provided.
This, my dears, is Scruff. Although an unassuming little owl, he does have a rather interesting way about him. He’s enthusiastic - its what sets him apart from all the other owls - nay, all the other creatures. He’s not the best, he’s not the brightest, there’s certainly smarter, fitter, and more beautiful creatures out there, but none may match him with the pure passion with which he approaches things. Everything he does, he does with a raw enthusiasm most have seemingly been weaned off of.
Can you ever watch a child, with their eyes shining bright, their hands simply covered in every colour imaginable with the sheet in front of them smeared with the most ungodly mess of paint, and not smile? For sure, what they have produced is generally fairly lacking on the artistic front, and things are undoubtedly going to be a pain when it comes to the ‘cleaning up after’ stage, but the look on their little faces when they hold up their hands so proudly, saying ‘look what I’ve done!’ - well… its something I don’t see so much in adults. This pure, enthusiastic joy of creating for the sake of creating, or doing something just for the process of doing something, rather than necessarily the end result… I like it.
My hubby can tell you that every so often he will come home to find me engrossed in something or other - it doesn’t really matter what - only to see me giggling with insane glee at discovering something… or perhaps figuring out ‘ahh, so I can do things this way’, or getting a stroke of a pen just right to the point where I just know that I cannot touch it even once more, because what I have already created is simply perfect. Its rather incredible just how much fun one can have when you’re just doing something simply because you enjoy it, not because you have to do it, but because you just really really want to.
Oh… and I still paint with my fingers. There really is just no better way sometimes.
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