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

After days of rain and a finished portrait

There is nothing like Southern California after 4 days of rain...crisp and clean! We should  get a breathtaking crop of wildflowers in the mountains this spring because of it! SO exciting to think how beautiful it will be!

I finished Fred just as the Oscars concluded last night!

Fred  (c)2014 8x10 Kathryn Hansen

Now on the drawing board: 

Elsa, a new lion that I've been dying to get started for the past 6 months. I am keeping it small, 5x8 because if it turns out well I'll be entering it in the Pencil Art Society's first International Exhibition. I have sent a few commissioned pieces overseas, but I have never sent framed artwork internationally, I have only entered shows that I can drive my work to, so if I do get in it will be intriguing to pack it all up and ship it out! 

Percy will be back on my board as well! He needs to be done by the end of March as I want to enter him in the Birds in Art Show in Wausau Wisconsin.

AND

I am holding a cat contest over on my Facebook business page. If you would like to enter, the winner receives a matted print of their beloved kitty! Just send me up to two photos at kh@kathrynhansen.com. Best of luck!!

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)!!

"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!

move aside pete, it's raining cats and dogs!

remember my post about pete last week...well, just in that one week since, i received two more commissions...so 6 in total now!!! that is a new record for me and it's not even christmas yet!! yikes! sooo poor pete is now set aside cuz there are a lot of cats and dogs needing drawing!!

i finish up jessica and crystal over the weekend. so one down!

Jessica and Crystal  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2013 8x10

and started drawing out moo thursday night but got into the finer details over the weekend.

Moo

also framed up two drawings for a show this coming weekend at st george's church in la canada. there will be 15 artists in all, so if you are in the los angeles area, please pop in and say hi!! it will be super fun!

Pete, Jessica, Crystal, Penny, Leo, and Maddie

sometimes a lot of times i get obsessed with the undertaking of certain drawings and i just have to work on it despite other commission obligations...this time it's Pete! 

at the beginning i just sneaked in a half hour or so in on it, but then i launch into it full blast, so i got a fair amount completed on Pete over the weekend.

but in my defense i also got in a good amount on my commission and should be able to finish it up this week.

Jessica and Crystal

this weekend we also received 3 new fosters, a mama and her two kittens. it all happened in a blur as we got a frantic text pleading if we could take them in as they were on the list to be put down at our local human society and there were no other available volunteers to take them in. how could i say no! we named the mama Penny. i don't think she is even a year old and she was very tired and weary...but friendly, loving her ears scratched and even some kisses on top of her head! the babies, about 5 weeks old were unfazed and just loved the millions of toys we have accrued over the years for our fosters to play with. i think just a bit of time, love and good food will bring Penny around to being happy!

Penny and her babies, Madie & Leo

so this weekend was filled to overflowing with lots of animal energy, from pelicans to dogs to cats!!

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” 

~Roger Caras~

Bella & Ricky (c) commission 11x14  2013   Kathryn Hansen

Ohhh Nuts! (c) 5x5   2013   Kathryn Hansen

 

 

below is a new drawing on the board...one of our foster kittens from last summer. my daughter named him coonie after a cat we had many years ago...see the original coonie here.  this sweet kitten loved to sit on my drawing board soaking up the warmth from my light, play with our dog josie despite the size difference and was just the friendliest little thing you ever met!! although he had many health issues and eventually had to be quarantined, he is now with an awesome family and healthy as can be!!

 i see a future drawing or two of these sweet 6 week old little bundles of joy from happy strays pet rescue!! our newest foster kittens, ariel and adella (i wanted frida and georgia but lost out!)

 

 

the end is in sight!

if all goes well i should be done with this first go around by the end of this week (could be tricky tho with both soccer and Easter this coming weekend!)...then it's onto tightening up the details in the sand and grasses!