Monthly Archive for March, 2009

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Sketch: Bunnies… are better than interviews.

Kat Johnston Sketch: Bunnies... are better than interviews.

Why oh why am I so unnerved when it comes to interviews for positions that I really want? I start blabbering and babbling, and talking about things unrelated to the question because in reality, although I spent hours thinking over what I should or could say, my brain offers me a big fat blank instead.

I’m fine in most any situation, but when it comes to an interview… zilch. I turn into a bundle of nervous energy, scrabbling for anything even barely approaching a cohesive response to whatever question has been asked of me. Ah well. Cross your fingers for me – I hear on Friday whether I got the position or not.

Now, onto something slightly more cheery (still got those fingers crossed for me?) – I popped by to the Museum of Brisbane today to check out the Temperature 2 exhibition. I went to the first Temperature exhibition a few years back, and loved it to bits, so I guess it was time that I got out and saw its successor.

I have to say that for me, the highlight was Karl de Waal’s piece, ‘Quilt for Melanie’ – a quilt stitched together from discarded notes people had written. I could have spent all morning there reading each and every one of them. I must admit, I was sorely tempted to call some of the phone numbers which were on those scraps of paper, just to say ‘hey, by the way, did you know?’

I found most of the pieces intriguing in their own way, but that particular artwork was really the one to capture and hold my attention most. Isn’t it funny how a collection of the mundane can transform into something with a power all its own when it is taken into the hands of an artist? Each of those scraps, discarded by their owners once their use was fulfilled, stitched together with so many others entirely elevates them to something above and beyond their original form.

Little snippets, snatches of people’s lives, like a candid snapshot of a moment which was never intended to be witnessed by anyone other than them – one piece saying ‘don’t forget to bring the tampons’ on what appears to be a shopping list for a trip away, another piece seemingly filled with figures to work out some budget… I like it. Then again, I have rather a fascination for the discarded – what people throw away and toss aside, and then how it is reclaimed through art.

Ok… that’s all for today. Oh! The picture is another of my bunnies from the bunny sketch-book… he’s cute!

My apologies.

The past few days have just been rather ‘bleh’ with regards to inspiration and the like. I threw together some signage for some virtual lollipops, but that is about it. I have been in my studio doing some actual painting, but I have no photos to prove it! Not yet, in any case.

I’ll post something tomorrow. Sorry for the flakiness, but I guess it happens to us all now and then.

Sketch: What do you get when you splice a turtle and an elephant?

Kat Johnston: What do you get when you splice a turtle and an elephant? A turlelephant!

First off, a little something for Dimmy, a friend of mine. Yes, I’ve drawn it… a turtle and an elephant, spliced into one mega-awesome creature. You gotta admit, he’s cute! This little turlelephant was bought to life as I sat in on a psychology lecture today… I listened to the lecturer talk about perception of self and the impact of perception of self and of others… I sketched at the same time. Oh, and ate some choc-orange fudge. The choc-orange fudge was tasty.

I’m not going to put a picture up of the current Sanu item: I’ve done it as a png with a transparent background and I’m… um… too lazy to actually save it as a jpg right now. It’s an ice-cream monocle – a wonderful combination of both food and fashion. Yum!

Sketch/Sanu: I just finished a spider.

Kat Johnston - this is an ice-cream spider. No ice-cream float... that's not wicked enough!

As is the way, names for things often differ from place to place. When I mention that I’m going to go drink a spider, when I say it to someone who isn’t from Australia, I’m likely to get a few raised brows. Understandably so, I suppose. Anyhow, that is why I drew this picture today. Its my own awesome concoction! Skully spider with whipped cream! Actually, the one I had was a raspberry ripple vanilla ice-cream in raspberry soda… it was delicious.

Alrighty… onto the Sanu stuff for today.

Sanu Stuff: bunny and ant, spliced into one. Mad scientist? I think not. Genius? Yes!

In case you haven’t had the chance to see, the Sanu store has had a reworking out the front. A friend of mine went ‘Oh no! I’m going to get giant ants!’ when I dropped a giant gummy bear at her home… and thus the giant bunny-ants were born. This, however, is a far smaller shoulder-pet sized one… with a bow!

Sanu Stuff: bunny-ants as pets... who'da thunk it?

And there’s the signage for it. Not overly inspired, I know… but they’re a bit hard to photo. They look freakin’ awesome though, promise! I’m thinking of trying my hand at bunny butterflies too. How cute would they be, huh?

Anyhow, that’s it for today, I think… I have some ice-cream monocles to finish up, and then some lollipops to photograph, and, and and… it never ends!

Sketch: A little framed owl.

Kat Johnston - switching obsessions for a day - we're going for an owl. A cute owl!

Another day, another sketch, another long-winded post to go along with it. Yay!

Today I tossed on some music and did some sketching… today its an owl. I will most certainly have to draw some more bunnies later today, but I was in an owl mood earlier, so an owl it is.

Yesterday was a good day… a very good day, really, when all is said and done. I got a call in the morning to ask me in for an interview, so you’ll have to keep your fingers crossed for me when the day comes. I have an interview next Wednesday, and needless to say, I’m hoping that I don’t just freeze up and totally botch it.

Anyhow, back to yesterday – got the call for the interview and did my little bouncy happy dance, then had to drag the sister into the city. Got her stuff sorted out then had to go through the pain of shopping. Good thing about Second Life: (almost) never having to try something on before buying it. Everything generally looks ok, so long as the vendor hasn’t gone completely bonkers with their advertising. Real life is so not as kind. I went to a dozen stores before finding what I wanted, dragging my poor hapless sister around as an odd form of torture in revenge for her needing me to go out in the midday heat to begin with. Yay for revenge torture of sisters!

Don’t worry… no small fluffy animals were hurt in the making of this post, nor in the process of the shopping trip yesterday unless you include the cow and chicken that were needlessly slaughtered to provision us with out lunch of yaki soba and sushi. My name is Kat. I love the meat.