Drawing my own conclusions

A tweetable Moment won the Best of Show and Cippy Award at the 31st Annual International CPSA Exhibition. Which was a ginormous surprise and honor!

Recently I had the great pleasure but extremely hard job of judging a colored pencil art show. I learned so much in the process of selecting 10 "winning" pieces, altho I could have easily chosen more to win as there were so many fantastic drawings! These are just some of my observations from judging.

 

And first and foremost, this is just my humble opinion. Another judge may have picked totally different pieces for other reasons...I can only speak for myself and what I looked for in the pieces I chose.

 

Initially I viewed each piece in literally 2-3 seconds! So what I learned for myself was: a piece needs to make a big impact right away!

 

Then I went back and viewed the whole gallery again another 2 times and from there I started whittling down to the ones that really stood out. I ended up picking 35 initial pieces as possibilities. Then I narrowed that down to 28 then 20, which is when it got VERY difficult. I had to really start being nit picky as heck about each piece to narrow it down further to just 10 drawings that I felt were worthy of an award. But let me say this, I could have easily given any of those 20 pieces an award because they were all very strong in skill and design, but in the end I had to ask myself if I was moved emotionally by it. If I wasn't then unfortunately I had to let them go no matter how much I liked them...trust me that wasn't easy!

 

Another lesson I learned-the pieces had to go beyond craftsmanship (altho that is EXTREMELY important)...I truly needed to be impacted by the piece, touching me in some way to make me want to come back and view it multiple times or even think about it well after I viewed it, which the top 10 pieces absolutely did.

 

So what ultimately caught my eye when judging was, emotional impact, strong composition/design, drawing skills, lighting, originality/creativity, a unique subject, or an ordinary subject showed in a different way. All the pieces I ultimately picked had the most combination of these fundamentals.

 

In the beginning I could easily eliminate some pieces that were blurry, turned sideways, or not in the full frame. The others I passed by had multiple issues for me, such as no focal point or my eye went everywhere (as an artist you need to guide your viewers eye), cluttered backgrounds, or the background color was so strong it over powered the main subject, lines of buildings or windows where the perspective was off, the design was not strong enough or not interesting enough, not edited...could have cropped in to make it more dynamic, or if it's something I've seen a million times on Instagram. What I learned from this is to always ask myself: how can I make it unique so it stands out from all the other artists who entered. What makes it interesting or unique...what made me want to draw it in the first place.

I have to say at one time or another I have struggled with all the things I mentioned above when I find an image I want to work with. Over the years I focused too much on my drawing skills, sometimes to the detriment of other things that are just as important if not more so. But I am always learning!

 

If I'm going to spend a month or two drawing a piece I want to set myself up for success before I even put pencil to paper by working on my cropping, composition and editing. Sometime, literally for years before I begin a piece. For sure some are more successful than others...but I am always learning and pushing myself to do better with each piece. And perhaps one day I will be where I want to be with my art...until then I just keep showing up and doing the work.

 

One last thought...from time to time my art has been rejected from top shows or I've gotten in to a prestigious show but not won an award. I always allow myself to feel disappointed and sad for awhile, but actually rejection notices (more than wins) fuel my huge desire to do better. I don't know why this angst gives me drive but it does. So I hope any artist feeling down about not winning an award in this show has the desire to keep going and doing their best work. Like I said in the beginning it's just my opinion and what caught my eye and touched my heart. It's no offense to any artist's work...many of which were absolutely fantastic.

I want to wish all my best to each and every artist in this show that entered...it takes courage, vulnerability and guts to enter a show...going up against other artists to win a place in the show or an award. Not every artist is up for that kind of scrutiny of their work. But I can truly say from my own perspective, it has made me grow by leaps and bounds as an artist and person, by putting myself out there and taking a chance.

Blu Beary's story

Blu received his nickname because of his great fondness for blueberries, although on occasion he does love a good lingonberry or even a delicious huckleberry! In his neck of the woods, Blu has been known to devour over 30,000 berries in a whole day…they are just too delicious to resist!!

Blu is also a very curious bear and will inspect almost anything to determine if it is edible. Atho he can be very lazy at times, preferring to sit from the comfort of his trusty log sniffing the smells drifting on the breeze.

Flowers of the air

When you first step foot into the towering majestic Eucalyptus tree grove in Pismo Beach, you feel slightly disappointed as all you see is, well...just trees. But hold on...there's glittering flashes of orange all around you as well- camouflaged butterflies start fluttering over your head and you stand there just mesmerized with a stupid grin on your face...or was that just me!!

Western Monarches, my favorite of all the jewel-toned butterflies, migrate thousands of miles seeking shelter from the freezing northern winters and make a pit stop at Pismo Beach each year starting in late October. They cluster on the Eucalyptus limbs, hanging by the hundreds in an electrifying curtain of orange! I read that helps protect them from rain, wind and predators as well as providing warmth for the group! They estimate that over 20,000 butterflies migrate through that area in a single season!! That's pretty darn impressive for sure!!

Some fun facts:

Monarch weigh less than 1 gram!! Seriously?!!!

The Monarchs that visit Pismo Beach are of a different variety and have a life span of 6 months as opposed to that of the common Monarch which only lives 6 weeks.

Monarchs will lay around 1,000 eggs in their tiny 6 month lifetime...WOW!! After having 2 kids I was done...maybe laying eggs is easier...just saying!!

Winging it (c) 2019  13.5x8.75 colored pencil drawing

Up at the quack of dawn

Up at the Quack of Dawn (c) 2019 17.5x13 $1825.00

Through the years I have hiked and photographed this beautiful trail in Pasadena, CA called Lower Arroyo Seco, meaning "dry stream" in Spanish. The trail leads you under the magnificent Colorado Boulevard Bridge, which is the only local bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places, built in 1913. 

Just south of the bridge is where a small pond resided brimming with countless Mallard ducks and their adorable ducklings!

The Devils Gate damn, just north of this lovely area is where the problem began this year for the Lower Arroyo Seco area. A four year renovation project launched, plowing down 70 acres of enhanced habitat for wildlife due to LA County neglecting this area for years, allowing non-native and invasive plant species to thrive. Their plan is to remove 1.7 million cubic yards of sediment, with 400 trucks moving through this area per day for the next 4 years. It is said by many that the amount of sediment removed will harm a delicate ecosystem housing endangered and sensitive wildlife...yup it certainly has!

With the abundance of rain we received this year, it caused all that loose sediment and soil to flow down and fill up that pond where I took the photo for this drawing. I hardly even recognized the area when I went there a few weeks ago...one lonely drake left by himself, all the others had fled apparently. 

So, this drawing I created has great meaning to me more than ever and symbolizes what we lost. 

This is what it looked like weeks ago, just a small waterway going through...once the weather gets hot I'm not sure even this will be there. And certainly no more ducks or herons will be there.

My great hope is that 4 years down the line this precious area will be restored and waterfowl and other native wildlife will once again return. I really miss those ducklings!

Over the river and through the woods.

Wade in the Stillness
Collection of Memories
Stories to be told

~Kathryn Hansen~

Power to the Pebble (c) Kathryn Hansen 17x11.75 $1720

On the hiking trail in La Canada, CA with my dog Indie.

He drives everyone nuts!

Wilderness Retreet (c) Kathryn Hansen 9.5x20

Despite Chippy McNutters diminutive size, he was pretty much a big shot in his neck of the woods as he could gather up to 165 acorns on a good day. His furry friends however were starting to have concerns about Chippy's hoarding problem. Intervention seemed inevitable. Luckily for Chippy hibernation season was right around the corner so he was able to skirt the issue till Spring!

Burnish, baby burnish.

There are lots of different types of burnishing when it comes to colored pencils, my favorite with this piece has been tonal burnishing. I will do this several times in a section. I start by layering my colors on top of each other with a very light hand (this is achieved by holding the pencil further back), going in opposite directions with very consistent tiny circular strokes, and keeping my pencil point razor sharp while building up layers of color. I'm not heavy handed but I do apply more pressure with a Caran d'Ache Pablo white or light grey pencil towards the end, when I have my colors down. I will go back then and add a bit more color and burnish again with the white or light grey pencil...doing this several times until I have a beautiful rich glazed look. What happens with burnishing, is that it causes the color to fill up the entire tooth of the paper...making it very smooth looking. 

In the darker areas of this piece I will burnish with a dark blue and reddish Pablo. Just remember to gradually build up your dark colors as once they are down they are hard to erase.

Burnishing is one of the last steps in this whole process, which can be quite tedious at times, but the results create a sleek and fantastic finish!

Materials used: 
Stonehenge white paper (sheet)
Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils
Caran d'Ache Pablo pencils

To see more of my process and short videos check out my Instagram (kathrynhansendrawings) page here.