The dog days of summer are over!

After two and a half years of only drawing dogs for clients I finally received a kitty commission!! 

Cats and whiskers make an irresistible combination to draw!  I find the process of drawing them in colored pencil a completely different experience from drawing them in graphite. Altho I highly enjoy both, each medium has their own challenges! Adding/layering color into the mix on top of values and textures is certainly an adventure, sometimes in fun other times in frustration!!!

Other commissions this year:

Molly (c) 2016 July 8x10

Rossa (c) 2016 May 8x10

Teddy (c) 2016 May 6x8


Kitty drawings in my Etsy shop:

The Dog did it! (c) 2016  5x7  $155

Forty Winks (c) 2016  5x7 $155

Olive's twig digs!

Sweetie (c) 2014 8x10 Kathryn Hansen

As my enjoyable commission of Sweetie is now completed, I thought my next drawing to tackle would be for an upcoming gallery show at Segil Art Gallery. The theme for the show is "Home." As I perused numerous photographs of my own and on PMP, racking my brain for the perfect idea, I decided to go with another Jennie Norris photo of a morning dove snuggled into her twig hideaway.

I wrestled with the idea of creating this in colored pencil, or maybe even a tinted paper, but in the end I just decided to go my usual route but with a different type of paper. I've become super unhappy with the sizing in Strathmore's bristol board lately, so checked out the various papers at my local art store, Swains. Disappointingly they had very little in the way of drawing papers, so decided on a 300 lb watercolor paper called, Lanaquarelle. I started the piece on Sunday morning, and did my research on it on Monday, and yikes, I found out the company uses animal products in their sizing just like Arches...bad company! So...well...I guess it's back to another art store to see if anyone has Fabriano paper...that seems to be a very popular drawing paper who's sizing is all plant material! Now that's a good company that I can support!!

a sweet couple in my driveway that my cats didn't chase away!

Born free,

 as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows

Born free to follow your heart

~John Barry-Born Free~

Elsa  Kathryn Hansen 5x8 (c)2014

Elsa was a bit of a challenge for me, and I felt I was all over the place with her. At times I wanted to quit, whining in my head that it was too hard, but I pushed along slowly and in the end I am extremely content with her! She will be one of two possible pieces I will be entering in the Pencil Art Societies International Art Exhibit this summer. I still need to draw the other one tho!! But I do have till June, so I'm not too worried about it.

~up next~

Baboi, the cat who won my contest over on Facebook at the beginning of this month. I started him last week but I wasn't pleased with it...he needed to be cropped in so his dazzling eyes were more prominent. So, I started over and now I'm just trying to figure all that fur! 

The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. 

~William Blake~

still dealing with this stupid flu that's been going around lately...it's the exhaustion and very annoying, constant cough that still has me down. but trying to plow through it as best as i can, cuz i just hate not drawing! i have read a slew of exceptional books in bed tho!!

also on the drawing board (and hopefully completed by the end of the weekend):

Cantik, my sweet kitty commission

Bella, or as i like to call her tuna breath, the second runner up in my dog competition on facebook.

hopefully next week i'll be showing you many completed drawings and a new commission of a scotty! till then have a fantastic, healthy and creative week!!

"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.” 

  ~Dean Koontz~

Beaucoup  8x10 (c) 2013 Kathryn Hansen

and almost complete, the last commission before Christmas! a sweet cat that i'll show you after the holidays! but here is a tiny sneak peek!

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.

~Paul Klee~

here's all my walking lines in various stages of progress

beaucoup, a very furry, sweet face pooch!

a beautiful feral kitty that looks like a ragdoll or snowshoe cat

and a pelican who posed so regally for me at the beach...while all his friends scattered!

on and off the drawing board!

Queen B   Kathryn Hansen (c) 2013   8x8

i don't know why but i keep futzing and futzing with queen b's portrait just like i did with the king, but i think that i finally got it to my satisfaction...maybe! this quote by leonardo da vinci, always comes to mind when i linger over a drawing: "art is never finished, only abandoned." cuz that's exactly how i feel! i know 99.9% of people wouldn't be able to pick out the changes i keep making, but to me, if i don't refine it my eye will go right to those spots every time, so i labor over certain drawings until i feel that it's good enough! crazy making, i know!!

and now that queen b is complete, up next is sammy, moo's brother in crime!

and i think it's safe now to share the commission i could not show you for weeks and weeks! 

House in Woods by Kathryn Hansen (c) 2013

another commission completed!!

Moo (c) Kathryn Hansen  8x10 2013 

i finished drawing Moo late last night after an exciting but disappointing soccer game. altho it was very chilly at the sports complex after the sun set, it was a very heated game, with lost tempers, shoving, and shouting. The Wazowskies lost 4-8...and they were not happy about it...altho they did enjoy their snacks afterwards!

this is a new piece started last week, drawn in between two commissions. i figured The King needed a queen, cuz you know men can't live without us ladies!! plus i want to enter the royal pair in an upcoming gallery show...so she needs to be done by beginning of November!

i won't be able to show you my next commission until it's fully completed, just in case the client of my client sees it. altho i think the odds of that happening are greater than me winning the lottery...but the internet can be a small world at times, so i can't take the chance! so instead here's an adorable shot of Maddie, one of our foster kittens...growing by leaps and bounds!!

Just watching my cats can make me happy

~Paula Cole~

(me too!)

Coonie Bear (c) 2013 Kathryn Hansen 5x6

 diamond just would not let me take a photo of tucker this weekend! not sure if she just didn't want me to show you all the progress i made on it (cuz that's the part she kept covering up) or if she just wanted some attention...so i finally had to put down my camera, scratched her ears for awhile, then i was able to get a shot or two of my drawing as she happily wandered off to catch some bugs!! (she's better than a venus fly trap to have around!!)

 

but i'm soooo happy to say that i am almost finished with Tucker...cuz it seems like forever that i started this piece! and there are just SO many other drawings needing to be drawn!!!

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!

a gift

Lucy (c)  2012  Kathryn Hansen

this past saturday night i stayed at home since my boyfriend was out of town at a funeral and my youngest daughter was at an overnight babysitting gig. i was all excited to finish "lucy" as i never stay home on a saturday night to draw! i poured myself a delicious glass of red wine, my oldest daughter was snuggled up tight next to me on the couch, we were watching iron man on tv when all of a sudden my daughter was shrieking at the top of her lungs. my head jerked up, i knocked my wine glass over with my drawing board...wine spilled everywhere...i looked over to see what the heck!! shortie had brought me a gift...a rat larger than our foster kitten coonie! He ran off to my bedroom and that's where i spent a good portion of my saturday night...chasing after a giant rat. after much imploring, i was able to talk my daughter into finally helping me. we exhaustively managed to capture him and get him safely outside. not exactly how i had envisioned my night going but i did complete lucy...my original goal...just had to stay up later than i was expecting!

 

coonie wiped out after all the activity!

shortie, the gift giver keeping a watchful eye on all the commotion

“Time spent with cats is never wasted.” 

 

~Sigmund Freud~

 

  Buttercup  (c) 2012  Kathryn Hansen

crazy week drawing by drawing

sunday afternoons progress

only got in a little bit of noodling on monday night because of another ortho/dental appointment.

 tuesday night was a bust for drawing...yet another ortho/dentist appointment (4 long visits in one week...yikes! but my daughter will have a beautiful sparkling smile by the time this is all over!!) 

wednesday nights progress in and around my daughters soccer practice.

thursday night i lucked out and did not have to attend back to school night as planned, so i got a nice chunk of time to draw after dinner.

friday night...well it is friday night...spent a lovely evening drinking wine with my sister and watched the blue moon emerge!

saturday afternoons headway...almost there! yay!