Get to know me, an introduction

Hello! Welcome to Kustartt and my first ever blog post. This is a bit weird because on one hand this feels incredibly natural and as though I could write forever, and on the other hand I feel like a right twat assuming anyone will be interested in what I have to say. But recently I have learnt that there is a wonderful community of people like me out there, and hopefully some of them will find this.

I think an introduction is without a doubt the best place to start. Afterall how else are we supposed to build a parasocial relationship if you don’t even know who I am. So, my name is Katherine, I’m a freelance illustrator, fibre artist and (aspiring) ceramicist based in Brighton & Hove, UK. I’m a disabled, neurodivergent gal trying my best to follow whatever makes me happiest at the time. I’ve made this website to act sort of as a central hub for everything I do. Clearly you’ve landed on the blog, the place in which I attempt to sound profound about a range of topics, most of which will only be interesting to me and will sound like a ridiculously long spiel of useless information (did i mention I’m autistic?). My intention is to use this as an opportunity to share things that I want to discuss with people, or at least get out of my very busy head.

You see in 2023 I moved into a flat by myself for the first time and let me tell you, when you’re alone for as much of the day as I am the quantity of thoughts that cumulate is immense. Thankfully in that time I adopted the cutest little cat in the whole wide world (officially recognised I swear) so I share a lot with her. (Her name is Fig, after the analogy in the Bell Jar) Unfortunately she’s more of a listener than a responder and my need to share goes further than the animal kingdom. 

I want to talk about the dogs I saw today, the books I read, the things I’ve noticed whilst being alone so much and the struggles that I face with it. Quite frankly this blog is for me to keep myself entertained, and anyone else who feels the same is invited to read it and encouraged to respond. 

To expand further on myself I want to talk somewhat briefly about something a little more personal: my disabilities. This is something that I never know how to bring up as a lot of people shy away or assume it’s not a topic I want to talk about, as though I’m embarrassed or ashamed of it. Or on the flip side treat it as though I’m making a massive deal out of nothing, or sharing something that should be kept to myself. That’s definitely not the case, it isn’t something that defines me by any means however it is a major factor in my life and to not mention it would feel wrong.

I have multiple chronic illnesses (and a bingo card full of diagnoses), some impact me more than others but they all suck.  Before I got ill I was an aspiring dancer, always active, super flexible, planning on pursuing a career either teaching or performing. One day I woke up with the most intense leg pain I’d ever experienced and from then on things just kept getting worse. Within a few months I was forced into the position of reconsidering everything. I fell back onto art, trying to find my place by doing graphic design and eventually transitioning further into illustration. This is something I love so dearly and don’t regret however there have been so many roadblocks that have made it so difficult to get to where I am now. I worked so hard to get into what I thought was my dream uni only for that to fall apart as well, my health was getting worse, I couldn’t keep up and I ended up leaving half way through my second year.

despite dropping out I still got to pretend to graduate alongside my housemates

After a year of not really knowing what I was doing and just trying to plod on I feel as though I’m finally at a point where I can honestly say I feel secure. I’ve become more confident in myself and asking for accommodations when I need them and I understand how important it is to listen to my body instead of pushing it to a breaking point. This does however mean that I do struggle to be consistent, both in my personal life and online; I can’t promise that I’ll be posting regularly, fighting with the algorithms on social media or dropping new products every month. I would love to do that but my health will always take priority. 

Okay that went on a bit longer than I anticipated, sorry about that! Let’s bring it down a notch and bring things to a close. Stick around if you want, I can’t promise anything specific but if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve been thinking about look out for my future posts. If you wanna check out my art head over to my instagram, or my portfolio if you’re feeling a little more professional. And if you fancy something from my shop why don’t you go and have a browse. I’ll even give you a super special discount code as a reward for reading this far: BLOGBUDDY (get yourself a little treat, 15% off)