Neighborhood Watch

I started this drawing of the Three Cheetah Brothers exactly 3 years ago, but for some reason I didn't continue working on it after the initial lay out. I thought perhaps I had a commission and then never got back to it, but maybe it was just meant to come to fruition 3 years later!!

 We saw these fine fellows resting under a young acacia tree in Lewa Downs Conservancy, our second camp in Kenya. It was a beautiful day but the nights were very cold in early August.

This "coalition", we were told was very unusual as male cheetahs are territorial, but they obviously got along just fine. We only saw single cheetahs after that throughout the conservancy.

The Cheetah has nearly 2000 solid black spots on him! That's a lot of spots to draw!!!

So happy now that I finally finished drawing Daryl, Larry and Larry as they were so much fun to work on. They are now entered in the Pencil Art Society, 2016 International Open Juried Exhibition...wish me luck!!!

Spots on my drawing board

Larry, my newest colored pencil drawing is inspired by my time in Samburu, Kenya. 

Our guide spotted (!) this handsome leopard in an acacia tree brimming with richly colored birds.

Leopards tend to while away the hours up in trees. Their stunning spotted coat camouflages them, making them blend in with the leaves of the tree. 

We sat tight with this leopard for at least an hour until he dropped out of his perch. We were then scrambling, along with a dozen other tourist vehicles for the best place to watch him.

Leopards are ambush predators, so they crouch low to sneak up to their prey and pounce before it has a chance to react.

Leopards are solitary creatures that only spend time with others when they are mating or raising young.

Pretty soon he ambled out of view into a dense part of the woods, we took off then to find a smattering of elephants down the road!

Observation Post, Kathryn Hansen  7x10  (c)2016  $800.00

From Z to A

This is the third Grevy's zebra I've drawn and all 3 have 1 thing in common. 

It's the exact same zebra, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent ( I always name my animals while drawing them!) 

The Hitchhiker  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2015  6.25x9.75

This time however, I've created Jebediah in Polychromo colored pencil. A huge challenge as I wasn't expecting to use 12 colors in creating him! I am so new to colored pencil that my naivete regarding this medium really showed itself but I muddled through it and I'm very happy with the results!!!

Bakora, Jerry and Jebediah are all from Lewa Downs Conservancy, located in northern Kenya. Once a cattle ranch, it then became a sanctuary to protect the elusive black rhino, and then onto become a non-profit wildlife Conservancy where we saw the 3 cheetah brothers, giraffes, elephants, both white and black rhinos, ostriches and more!!

Bakora  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2012 5x5

Just Passing Through  Kathryn Hansen (c) 2014  5x8

Set a spell, take your shoes off

and meet the Clampetts and their feathered friends!!

My newest drawing in progress. 

I've been wanting to draw this trio for some time now, basically since I got back from Kenya 4 years ago, so I guess it's finally their time! I changed things up a bit, added a few oxpeckers and egrets to the scene for interest. 

As some of you may know I was fascinated by all the birds perched on the mammals there, so I tend to always add them to my work.

Oxpeckers can be invasive birds to elephants, but they also reduce the amount of lice, ticks, and other parasites living on elephants' skin and hair. Egrets also eat parasites on the elephants backs but mostly they eat insects that are stirred up from the dust and grass as elephants stroll thru the towering grasses. 

I am hoping to get through all the wrinkles, folds and grasses in this piece in a timely manner...elephants always seem to take me a bit longer to draw...shooting for the end of this week! 

So y'all come back now, y'hear!

Why are elephants so wrinkled?

This dynamic duo are up next on my drawing board. 

After combing through hundreds and hundreds of photos from my Africa trip, I mashed these two elephants together. Lorelai, the mom is actually from Amboseli National Park and her baby Rory is from Samburu but in my small drawing they have always been mom and baby! 

Not sure if I will add any birds to this one as I want the emphasis to be on Rory's turned head, looking back at the viewer. 

I am hoping to have it done in time for the TAG Gallery Open California Exhibit in August, which means it needs to be completed by mid June. Not sure if I will be able to make it but I am going to give it my best shot!

(They take too long to iron!)

A horse wearing Venetian blinds?

This drawing in progress is Jerry, a Grevy's zebra we saw in Lewa Downs in Kenya. A Grevy's zebra is distinguishable by it's Mickey-mouse ears and narrower stripes that are absent in their belly and butt areas! They are also loners, but are not so uppity that they won't hang with the Common zebra!

I became a bit obsessed while there with all the different types of invasive birds that clung to the animals. 

So I've placed a warbler named Ben on Jerry's tail just for some added interest...he's probably not the most remarkable bird in Kenya, but he does carry a good tune!

Maasai Mara and a lone acacia tree

this is the newest drawing in progress on my board...an acacia tree with a brown snake eagle perched on a stray limb. 

the terrain at maasai mara is open grassland with a few solitary acacia trees dotting the scene. it is best known for the annual great migration. you can get a better feel for the grassland area in my sampling of photos than any words i could ever write!!