"Hope" is the thing with feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

~Emily Dickinson~

*photographs from my trip to Wisconsin in 2014
*For Lease  (c)2016  7.5x9  $620.00
* Hummingbird in progress

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

~John Muir~

Reflections on a Pond (C) Kathryn Hansen 7x9  $419.00

Dolores and friends

With Quiet Solitude aka Edgar completed, I'm diving right into my next drawing, a duck I named Dolores.

Quiet Solitude  Kathryn Hansen  (c) 2014 7.25x10.25

I spotted this beautiful Mallard duck in Santa Barbara while on vacation with my super fun girlfriend at the Botanic gardens on the out skirts of town. Its leisurely paths take you thru a small redwood forest, native plants, and a lovely pond filled with birds and turtles!

With some luck I should have Dolores done in time to enter into a gallery exhibit in the San Fernando, Ca area.

The Peace of Wild Things

“When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be. I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free”

~Wendell Berry~

Inspired to do a portrait of one the many beautiful white egrets I saw at Lake Balboa last weekend!

Olive's hidey-hole is complete

Hidden Away  Kathryn Hansen  (c) 2014  6x9.25

Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.

  Edgar Degas

 well, i finally put to rest "out of the burrow" (see previous post). i fixed the areas on the bottom of the piece that i wasn't feeling the love for and at least to me it's much better. now for this piece (above), "along for the ride"...ugh...i have reworked the background more times than i can remember and still am not happy with it! i have a few ideas but need to sit with it for awhile. i won't be entering it in the birds in art show as i feel it's just not up to my standards for entering such a prestigious show.

i don't know why i am in such an elephant mood this year...i must be dreaming of kenya!! but here is the start of a new piece. i started with the most challenging part first...the background and making these egrets look like they are in motion and not just hanging in mid air. so far i am not liking the background but am going to keep at it until satisfied!! 

this seems to be a recurring theme lately...highly dissatisfied with certain areas in my drawings!!