Ojai magic

at the beginning of the month my wonderful friend julie and i spent a long, glorious weekend in ojai, california.

we had some really cool experiences there, such as a huge tree filled to the brim with egret nests...they make the funniest sounds, a cross between a frog and a child babbling!! we also came across a gorgeous bullock's oriole and a beach lined with seals and a variety of sea birds! we hit up a story telling festival at the local park, a large outdoor book store and a small vintage shop in an alleyway with the cutest french bulldog named sunny! we found a micro brewery tucked away from the main drag and the best tangerine margaritas ever! seriously...they were delicious!!

i am truly blessed to have such a great friend that i can talk to for hours and days on end with and share such an incredibly magical place with. if you've been there you'll know exactly what i mean and if you haven't, for sure put it on your bucket list!!

The Tire Swing

The Tire Swing   2012 (c) Kathryn Hansen

 

He gazed across
The wind-swept meadow
To a lone tree
Standing there

Its jagged, silhouette
Surrendered ‘neath
A sky more firey embered
Than his flaming hair
Which crowned him then

But it was neither tree nor sky
That stole his youthful eye.
It was the tire swing
Whispering, promising,
“With-me, you can fly!”

The boy lept across the meadow
Like a deer panting for water,
Till at last
He climbed aboard his dream.
His round, black, holed
Flying machine.

Then, holding tight,
And bending to and fro
With all his might
Began to drive
Began to glide against
The sinking sun
Till it was night outside

Across the starry littered sky
Beneath the moon’s soft lullaby
Ascending ever higher
Make believing
He’s a flyer,
He smiles,
As he tips a wing.
He is an aviator.
He is the sky king!
And all because of one,
Old tire swing.

Zach McClure

The devil is in the details...

 Natalie Wolchove, from a huff post article about drawing

this drawing has actually progressed pretty quickly this past week...must have drawn more that i realized!! cool!

i have another drawing i want to start of a pathway i took at my sister's home last week...so kinda excited to finish this one up and get going on the next!

switzer falls and a new drawing!

i found a new highly enthusiastic hiking partner lately...my daughter Emily. the last time we went hiking (many, many years ago) her attitude was quite the opposite, using such phrases as "doesn't this place have any escalators?" no honey, there are only escalators in buildings! and over and over, "when will we be there?"

most of my hikes have no destination point...except this hike rewarded us with an intensely beautiful waterfall at the end! and maybe that made all the difference...or maybe it's the 4 years since!!

i just know that this was one of the most stunningly spectacular places i've ever hiked!! and i'm totally blessed that it's so close to home!!

 this is the start of a new drawing, inspired by the theme of "memories" for the brand 41 works on paper competition. when i was thinking of ideas for this theme, my mind flashed back to growing up in rural wisconsin...climbing trees, catching tadpoles, skates that had keys to adjust them, sailing homemade boats down a small creek that formed at spring time in our backyard! even tho we had a swing set and not a tire swing hanging from our old willow tree, this represents all those combined memories. so i am highly enjoying drawing this piece...it makes me feel very nostalgic!

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!!

oddly enough my whole interest in a painting is when i'm painting it. sure i care about it for a while-try to decide if i succeeded in what i was after. but strangely it doesn't make any difference to me whether the pictures are sold or not. really, my purpose in painting is creating a thing.

~andrew wyeth from the book, art of andrew wyeth~

Kathryn Hansen (c) 2012 Out of the Burrow

funny...i felt this drawing was complete on wednesday evening, but something with taking a photo of it and looking at it a few days later, my eye is drawn to various spots i want to go in and fix. is any piece of art ever finished? or will i forever be noodling away at it until i feel fully satisfied?!hmmmm!!! good question!! i'll let you know after i work on it a bit more tonight! ugh!!

almost there...yahoooo!

 as you may remember, this is where i last left this drawing in this post

this was last weeks progress

closing in now...and it feels soooo good! just have to finish the roof and readdress the weeds at the bottom and then i can call this drawing done! this has been a challenging piece, so i can't even begin to tell you what a relief i am feeling to be almost finished with it!! so now i am jumping for joy to have at least one drawing to enter into the north light book competition, who's deadline is rapidly approaching!