Neighborhood Watch

I started this drawing of the Three Cheetah Brothers exactly 3 years ago, but for some reason I didn't continue working on it after the initial lay out. I thought perhaps I had a commission and then never got back to it, but maybe it was just meant to come to fruition 3 years later!!

 We saw these fine fellows resting under a young acacia tree in Lewa Downs Conservancy, our second camp in Kenya. It was a beautiful day but the nights were very cold in early August.

This "coalition", we were told was very unusual as male cheetahs are territorial, but they obviously got along just fine. We only saw single cheetahs after that throughout the conservancy.

The Cheetah has nearly 2000 solid black spots on him! That's a lot of spots to draw!!!

So happy now that I finally finished drawing Daryl, Larry and Larry as they were so much fun to work on. They are now entered in the Pencil Art Society, 2016 International Open Juried Exhibition...wish me luck!!!

From Z to A

This is the third Grevy's zebra I've drawn and all 3 have 1 thing in common. 

It's the exact same zebra, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent ( I always name my animals while drawing them!) 

The Hitchhiker  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2015  6.25x9.75

This time however, I've created Jebediah in Polychromo colored pencil. A huge challenge as I wasn't expecting to use 12 colors in creating him! I am so new to colored pencil that my naivete regarding this medium really showed itself but I muddled through it and I'm very happy with the results!!!

Bakora, Jerry and Jebediah are all from Lewa Downs Conservancy, located in northern Kenya. Once a cattle ranch, it then became a sanctuary to protect the elusive black rhino, and then onto become a non-profit wildlife Conservancy where we saw the 3 cheetah brothers, giraffes, elephants, both white and black rhinos, ostriches and more!!

Bakora  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2012 5x5

Just Passing Through  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2014  5x8

Long Live The King of Lewa Downs

The King   Kathryn Hansen (c) 2013   8x8

Leonardo's story

Leonardo in progress

i'm not sure if you realize from my blog just how much i love domestic cats...but i do! 3 cats own me...i'd have more if i wasn't afraid of being classified as a crazy cat lady! but by definition, "an elderly suburban widow who lives alone and keeps dozens or more pet cats" i can't possibly be one as i am not a widow, my 2 daughters live with me, and i have less than half a dozen cats!

but i'm also crazy in love with large felines as well! 

we saw this beautiful boy on a cold late afternoon in Lewa Downs Conservancy in Kenya. he apparently had killed a local farmers cow earlier in the day, according to all the uproar on our guides walkie talkie. (you can see the blood stains on his nose and muzzle)

this bad boy was collared and vigilantly monitored by the game keepers there, so they knew exactly what he was up to. but by the time we saw him, he was pretty tired after his kill, and just laid down on the rich chestnut colored soil the whole time.

then we spotted these rare and strange beings taking photos of us, like we were the main attraction!