looking at the world

“Drawing makes you look at the world more closely. It helps you see what you’re looking at more clearly.” 

~David Almond, Skellig~

 off the drawing board:

Soaring Scotty by Kathryn Hansen (c) 2014 9x12

almost off the drawing board, still needs some tweaking:

Cantik

new commission, Fred:

new small (5x7) drawing, Sonni:

still plugging away at Percy, as he doesn't need to be finished until April 1:

 i am finally feeling healthy again (yay!), and back at work trying to make up for lost drawing time! lots of hours now spent drawing (or playing with kittens)!!

2 new drawings on the board!

 this is tucker, a horse from the wild west campground and corral in wisconsin. my youngest daughter, emily has been attending summer camp there since third grade, she's now 16! last summer she took a plethora of photos for me to use as references for my drawings. i loved this photo as soon as i saw it but haven't gotten around to drawing him out until this past weekend! i'm hoping to have him completed so i can enter him in a competition through north light books in april. i entered last year but didn't make the cut...so cross your fingers (and/or anything else you'd like to cross...eyes, legs, etc) for me this year!! 

and this is gracie! i commissioned myself to create her for my other daughter, allie, for her birthday coming up quickly in just a few weeks. she found gracie behind her work place last summer and was in pretty bad shape...skinny, fur all around her tail area gone. so allie brought her home, fixed her up and intended to put her up for adoption. well...gracie is still with allie (rarely leaves her side!), but now with a beautiful, soft grey coat and a very, very round belly!

They stand quiet in the breathless hush of beauty.

~Lazaris~ 

 Zarafa (c) 2012 Kathryn Hansen

progress shots of zarafa. 

drawings in progress

 i am back to work on my deer drawing! yay! this is where i left it in july, in this post. tedious and confusing at times working on that ivy...but highly enjoying the process!! (of course if i'd quit watching the big bang theory at the same time... :-/ !! i love that show!)

i've also started these two new pieces. 

this is a collaboration between my daughter emily and i. emily took the photos for me this past summer in wisconsin at her very last horse camp because she just turned 16, she's been going since 3rd grade! i begged and pleaded for her to take lots of photos for me because i was in the mood to draw a horse.

she not only took photos of horses but loads of other animals as well...goats, donkeys, dogs, squirrels!!! she went above and beyond...what a great kid! 

i've desperately needed to restock my etsy shop with new work, so you'll see plenty of these small, 5x7 pieces flying off my drawing board in the next few months!!

check out emily's flickr page here

and

if you want to see photos from saturday nights closing show at the liberty gallery in long beach click here!

The smallest feline is a masterpiece. 

~Leonardo da Vinci~

(c)Lulu  Kathryn Hansen 2012

"I like to draw more than anything, I like to draw"

~David Jon Kassan~ 

 

rounding the bend now...almost done with laying out the specifics! now i will go back around and get into the nitty-gritty details and finish it up! yay!! i'm thinking of calling it watchful or watchful eye. any suggestions?

New Drawings

I started this drawing awhile ago but am now trying to finish it so I can enter it in the Artist Magazine competition. 9 finalist will have their art published in their magazine as well as the calendar. I just think if I can get this, it would open a lot of doors for me...so I'm excited to try. Now, if I can just get my butt going and get motivated enough to get it done in time (May 1) Argh!!

This is a small piece (5x7) I just started this past Sunday...not use to working quite this small on these graffiti pieces, so I am going to buy a mechanical pencil to see if I can get a finer tip for details. I've always used staedtler graphite pencils...which I love best, but feeling like a mechanical will do the trick this time. This little piece will be for sale at my show in June , but am thinking of using it on my new business cards as well.

And lastly, I did this card in January but wish I would have read it last night as I could not get motivated to do a thing...was feeling exhausted, depressed and in self pity. So, I was a couch potato watching the good but depressing movie, Seven Pounds with Will Smith. When my mood hadn't shifted by morning I knew I had to start talking the spiritual talk...and you know what? It wasn't hard to shift it, it just took willingness to do it. Because to be sad and depressed, you have to think sad and depressing thoughts and I'm so tired of rehashing those thoughts and the past, crying over something I'll never have again. I have to get past this. So, this little card is going right over my bed with some other sayings to help remind me of the new life I want to create for myself. After all, my exboyfriend was perfect for who I was at the time we first met, but now I'm expanding, growing and changing at an accelerated pace...I need someone who can keep up with me!