Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. 

~Oprah Winfrey~

Alley Cat (c)2017 Polychromos and Pablo on Stonehenge 8x10

I have to confess that drawing Alley Cat was a struggle. I started her over 3 times! I really don't know what happened, it was a first for me...and made me question myself and my art. All I can think of is I didn't have the right colors to begin with and that super threw me off. But I also couldn't quite see the colors correctly, or decide exactly which colors to use. It was soo weird. I know this summer I was struggling personally with finances... I had a lot of unexpected expenses and little savings to cover them. I'm also very exhausted these past few years from working 70 hour weeks between my full time job and working on my art business...fueled most days only by caffeine! Sometimes the weight of responsibility can weigh very heavily on me...and my to do list is long...like really long!! Most don't see any of this tho as I wear my super woman armor around...but when my water heater went out on the same day as my car was at the mechanics for the third time within 2 months and the plumber messed up the handles in my shower and didn't tell me...all my cracks broke wide open and the flood gates parted!! I was pretty much a hot mess that morning! But that released something deep inside of me that I was clearly holding in. 

Everything has been paid for now, my new drawing of Bob Scratchit is going so easily, the pressure that had built up for months is gone and I am feeling centered-in alignment-again. Phew! I can breathe again. I don't think I'll ever have all my shit together, altho it may look like it on the outside...everything ebbs and flows...that's life. It's how we handle it...I use humor, drawing, my animals and nature to help get me through the hard times. 

When I see certain drawings of mine through the years, memories flood in...Alley Cat will be like that...that I went through a period of struggle, I consciously worked to released it and life went back to normal...actually better than normal. I know I am blessed and VERY grateful for my wonderful life...this portrait will always remind me of that!!

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!!

day 7 of the New Year!

Lily Marie from my dog competition on Facebook

my new year is starting off with a bang in many ways...an art show at topanga canyon art gallery, new drawings, two commissions, 3 new foster kittens, and my youngest daughter just got her license! yay! such wonderful things makes me temporarily forget about all the endless car repairs on both my oldest daughters ancient ford and my honda! yikes...car repairs do add up into the thousands, don't they?!

Cantik, my newest commission

but the bills will get paid and forgotten, the good stuff sticks and celebrated! 

my newest drawing Percy

this is Meatloaf, 1 of 3 new foster kittens

hope you have lots to celebrate too in the new year!!

"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!

sweet freedom

i took the days before and after Thanksgiving off from work as i wanted to try some new hiking trails and advance the cause with my commissions. well, i did get a lot of drawing in...not so much the hiking!

but just the sweet freedom of 5 glorious days off of work and being with family and friends through out the long weekend renewed my spirits!! (sleeping in every morning didn't hurt either!!)

~Franklin Canyon Park in West Los Angeles~

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!

"I've always been mad about cats."

~Vivien Leigh~

Sammy  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2013  8x10

up next on the drawing board are two 8x10 commissions, Beaucoup, a sweet old dog and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"...because he's a gift for Christmas. but i CAN tell you that it's a very adorable kitty!

and Pete the Pelican has made it's way back to the board as i soo want to enter him in an art exhibit in January, but the application is due early December. if you remember there's a surprise element to Pete that i'm super excited to get to! 

ohhh...if there were only more hours in a day!!

geesh...what a weekend!!

this weekend was one for the records...many emotional and physical ups and downs as saturday started off with a bout of food poisoning from a trader joe's vegi wrap, which by the afternoon had me in bed. 

this weekend also had my youngest daughter off on a church retreat, so i was in charge of getting our foster kittens to Happy Strays to be adopted that morning...which could be a long post in itself! needless to say, their separate adoptions fell thru, which is a sign that they were meant to be together! but they are still up for adoption at Petco, which despite not feeling well, i spent a good deal of time at as it was hard to see them cooped up in the brand new, but very small "cattery" there. of course i cried...a lot...as i missed them terribly and knew they were not happy with all that transpired that day. but if this helps them get a good home, it's something all three of us have to endure for a while! this, as i have said many times is the hardest part of fostering for me as i attach (especially to these two) in a nano-second. 

the ups of the weekend were:

that i did get close to finishing up my commission of sammy, which i wasn't expecting! 

and i did received another commission from a former client when i first started creating pet portraits! but i can't say anything more about it, as it's a christmas present!

and i found out that The King and Queen B were accepted into an art exhibit in december at a wonderful gallery! 

and my daughter made her first goal of the season at a late afternoon game on sunday! (they won 5-2!)

and shortie brought me a furry gift in the middle of the night! which only took me half an hour to retrieve from my room and return to the great outdoors...a new record...one time it took me over a day to find the rat (poor thing) he brought me. 

and my sammy brought me a lizard, which he kindly placed in the bathtub for easy removal!

despite all the good things that happened, i hope never to repeat this kind of weekend again!

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