Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Page 3 of 4

Sketch: I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.

Published on May 11, 2009 in 'The Hubby', Bunnies, Cartoon, Plain Paper and Sketch. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .
Kat Johnston sketch: What happens when you have this up on your screen? Answer: your husband, turning around to say 'is there something you want to tell me, Kat?'

I was sitting here sketching this little picture today, after which I scanned it into this lovely little computer (his name is Poe, by the way – the computer, not the bunny, that is). As I was scanning it in, I was checking out Facebook, to see if anything significant had happened within, ohh, the last 2 hours. Something had (sorta), as a friend posted up pictures of his daughter’s baptism.

I turned to my husband, quite casually, and said ‘My love… you know, I still find it weird to see some of the people I grew up with already with children… not so much that it isn’t something I didn’t see them doing, just that time passes quick – it seems like only yesterday my friend and I were sitting on a playground after watching a movie, and sipping at a couple of coffees…’

Suddenly my scanning finished, and up pops the picture – the one included in this post. My darling hubby raised his eyebrows, eyes narrowing as he hmmmed. ‘Is there something you want to tell me, darling?’

Why, I had not even thought of that! But what choice did I have? Lets face it, this was a golden opportunity. I started stroking my belly, cooing and crooning like a ninny. I could almost hear the grinding of gears, the indrawn breath as someone’s life comes to a close from all that was known before. That lasted about, ohhh, 30 seconds before I peek up with a twinkle in my eye. ‘Hell no. Actually, I was referring to Alice, yet again… that said, I can just see this as a greeting card…’

So, just in case any of you read any deeper than ‘bunny with a sign’, no, I’m not pregnant. Thank god. No offence to those who have children, want children and endorse the joys of possessing, uhh, children, but I am so not ready for that. I haven’t grown up myself yet!

Photo/Painting: Symbolism, anyone? Oh, and a few bunnies too!

Published on May 8, 2009 in Bunnies, Canvas and painting. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
Kat Johnston Photo: artistic suicide clean-up... I'm not sure whether it's symbolic, or just a desire for something different.

So today I got up and popped straight down to the studio… well… not straight down, but pretty close to it in any case. It was time for a clean-up, a clean-out, and a rearrange. I haven’t gotten to most of it, but I will… I’ve started. It counts.

One of the things I have resolved to do is pull up the outline. It’s been there for over a year now – it’s rather stubborn… but it will be moved. I think that now is about the time where I go ‘oh lord… note to self, don’t do this again. It looks cool, but it seems that masking tape gets ground further and further into the ground and the adhesive becomes more stubborn the longer it is there and the more it is walked over.’ Ah well… I’ll get there! The cards are already off of the wall (I had playing cards splashed across my wall) and at least the most obvious of artistic debri has been disposed of. Yay!

So now that you’ve seen that, time to post something a bit more ‘artistic’. I’ve started a little painting – this is the progress of yesterday and today (done in two little bouts). Now I will state this: this is still in progress… not done, nor really all that close to it… we’ll just have to see where this little gentleman leads.

Kat Johnston painting: bunny is progress... this is the first incarnation of it.

The first incarnation… I’m loving starting on a black base, and working from there. Building up a base of white to define the figure, you have no idea how much I want to stick with the black and white. I love it. It’s so vivid and raw. I could fix up a few bits from there and quite happily go ‘that’s it!’ But nope… I’ve decreed that this picture will be colour. So the first layers go down.

Kat Johnston painting: incarnation two... it still has a way to go, methinks, but the first layers are down, at least!

The first real layer of colour… so far, so good. I feel almost weird showing in-progress shots here – I know that the in-between stages are hardly the best indication of how it’s going to go… but hey, that’s what this blog is for: for showing the good beside the bad, the well polished beside the rough cut.

Phew! Ok, I think that is about it for now. I have a studio to get back to tidying, and more painting to do a little later. In the meantime, I think I may feast on some seedless green grapes. Wish me luck!

Sketch: Further developed still…

Published on May 7, 2009 in Plain Paper, Portraits and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Kat Johnston Sketch: Hey, this totally makes up for some of my previous misdeeds... just so you know.

So I’m doing little incremental scans of this picture as I work it up… we’ll just have to see how it looks fully when it is completely done. No pre-sketching is done with an image such as this – no pencil outlines or guides… it makes it seem almost daunting – one line wrong and whoops! Picture ruined. Well… perhaps. I hardly ever pre-sketch for a drawing such as this. Perhaps one day I should do that, yet I do find something fine, something exquisite about starting at one point, ending at another, and not over-working the part in-between.

That’s not to say that I don’t have an idea beforehand of what I want to do (in some cases) or think that my method is any better or worse than anyone elses… but I’ve always been more of a fan of the ‘evolving’ work over the rigidly structured type. But there ya go!

Okie dokey… that’s it until you see this picture the next time… unless you don’t see it another time. After all, if it turns out to be horrid when I make that one silly slip-up, then this may just be the last one of it that you see!

Sketch: A little further along… our little face grows.

Published on May 7, 2009 in Plain Paper, Portraits and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Kat Johnston Sketch: a little further along.... lets see where this leads us...

Ahhhh, a rare and bountiful day where you are provided with two pictures, instead of the customary one. In this case though, it is simply a continuation of the last – I’ve added in a few more details, extending it, seeing where it will lead me. She’s a beguiling girl; I have yet to work out exactly where she is leading me, or what the destination is set to be. Wherever it is, however, it is sure to remain quite interesting.

That is all really… I don’t know what else to add. Someone reply to me? Pretty please? I’m so getting sick of the mountains of spam drifting through the ‘you have this many comments…’ list, with not one being an actual comment worthy of publishing. And I have low standards! All I require is that it isn’t bloody advertising.

Alrighty then… that’s all for now, methinks. I am going to go back to watching Mushi-shi and musing away, while I wait for the time to click closer to when my love arrives home and I can tumble into bed with him, wresting away all the snuggles he has resisted giving me throughout his working day. Snuggles are hard to steal when you are futher apart than you should be, and I must admit that typing ‘*hugs!*’ in msn really just doesn’t cut it beside the real thing.

Sketch: Mmm… I feel like some lunch.

Published on May 7, 2009 in Plain Paper, Portraits and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Kat Johnston sketch - it's rather amazing what a few lines can turn into... connect them up, colour them in, and what do you get? A face!

Another day, another lunch. I think I’m in the mood for some cruskits, topped with some tuscan salami and some fresh, juicy tomato, sprinkled over with a touch of salt to draw out the sweetness of it… then perhaps a slither or two of delicious, firm Australian feta, or a few salty green olives stuffed with pimento.

I love food. I love even more the describing of food, as if the tasting of it were but one part of the entire experience. The way the mouth can water with anticipation, with deep and abject desire to take a bite out of even the most common delicacy… mmmmm. Even the most basic food can become to seem as one fit for the gods.

The way teeth slice through the flesh of a fruit, experiencing that first burst of flavour as the juice splatters onto the tongue, rending chunks with such childish glee as eyes slip closed in sweet reverie… that just begins to describe an apple. Apples are one of those things I cycle back and forth with – taking some time away from to approach again, only to learn over and over the simple delight of consuming either red or green varieties.

But I will not fall into a death-like slumber, no: I have no evil step-mother to name of, nor anyone I am aware of who would do me such justice as to kill me with a fairy-tale fate. Would my sweet prince come to free me from the prison of my body? Would my husband’s lips free the chunk of apple, so that I may breathe again unhindered?