LA Art Show and Deukmejian drawing

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit. 

~John Updike~

there was a ginormous convention hall full of spirit and soul at the LA Art Show this past weekend! so inspiring and fun to see such excellence in one place!! i tell you i was swooning!! these are a few of my very favorite artists displaying there:

  

 Julio Reyes(my very favorite of course...awesome graphite drawings!!)

 

Seung Hoon Park's woven photographs

 

Cameron Gray very cool block paintings

 Tong Hongsheng's impressive painting at the China pavillion

  and these crazy sculptures that i just love but didn't catch the name as they were closing and i was hurrying, trying to get in last peeks of all the art.

the rest of the weekend i was able to get in some good drawing time. working hard on my deukmejian drawing and started a new drawing...a sky landscape from Kenya. i need to get 5-6 drawings done by mid to late march as i have 3 very important shows i am entering. so i am very focused and excited (like triple-shot expresso excited!!)...working hard to get them all done in time!!

 

new drawing and vegas

 i switched gears quickly since i last posted. i was working on an elephant/oxpecker drawing to enter in the birds in art show in wausau wisconsin in april, but i found out that northlight books was coming out with strokes of genius: the best of drawing, book #5, so started a new drawing even though the theme and rules have not been officially announced as of yet. i don't know if this drawing will be a good fit for the competition but wanted to get a head start just in case!

i took this photo at a local hiking trail called deukmejan, named after former california governor george deukmejian. there's a beautiful old stone barn at the trail head, along with a few smaller buildings south of the barn. i think i'll be adding a jack rabbit at the lower portion of the drawing that i took in laguna beach last summer...i think it'll add more interest to the piece. and if this drawing doesn't end up fitting into the theme of book #5 i'll still have a nice drawing to add to my portfolio!!

 this past weekend my whole family plus friends met up in vegas to celebrate my nieces 21st birthday. although it was a super fun trip, vegas is definitely not my kind of place...but my boyfriend, his son and my girls had a fantastic and memorable road trip that included endless snacks, the world's largest thermometer, a ghost town and alien jerky!!

 Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  

~Oprah Winfrey~

i've always loved the start of a new year...it feels like a blank slate full of possibilities!! i always start by creating a list of intentions for the year in december. this year i've hung my list on my closet door in the middle of my dream board so i can see it every day (and not forget about it, like last year!). and just recently i found a worksheet from susannah conway that is super thought provoking and helped me to clarify my intentions even further.

almost done with these elephants

i'm changing things up a bit with my art this year. i'm focusing completely on my drawing: working on my portfolio, entering competitions (specifically 3...but want to enter at least 5 if not more), finishing my book and will teach myself pastels. i am leaving etsy as i felt it made me play it small and look forward to finding gallery representation in 2013.

can you even tell what this is? the back of an elephant!! it will have an oxpecker on it (like in the photo below). to be entered in the birds in art show in wisconsin. one of my long time dreams!!

sooo...this will be a very interesting and exciting year for me, one that i believe will rival one of my very best years, 2010!! i don't know why i have that feeling but i do!!

happy new year everyone!!

my weekend

 Tanner (c) Kathryn Hansen 2011

pheeeewww...i just finished this drawing in the nick of time...worked 7 hours on it sunday afternoon and evening and sent it out yesterday in the mail. i don't recall ever drawing that long before! 

on saturday i just had to finish decorating as i was so tired of looking at all the cardboard boxes sitting in my family room for weeks on end. i emptied one box of stuffed animals onto the couch as josie slowly climbed up and snuggled in amongst them and fell fast asleep!!

holiday art fair

 what a fun day i had at the mcgroarty holiday art fair on saturday!! not only did i do really, really well, selling lots of small collages and photo blocks, but this gorgeous1924 home, named “rancho chupa rosa,” after the indigenous plant was just beautifully decorated by the staff. there was live music but since i was upstairs i unfortunately didn't hear it. but i was surrounded by lovely art vendors and there were lots and lots of interesting people, eager to spend money...all day long!! 

one of my favorite things was the chili bowl sale, where you choose your favorite ceramic bowl made there at the center and filled it with your choice of 5 different kinds of chili for $10! cool idea huh?!!

all in all it was a wonderful, happy, successful day!!

drawing is the honesty of the art. there is no possibility of cheating. it is either good or bad. ~salvador dali~  (c) kathryn hansen 2011  put the finishing touches on Bella last night!   i was able to squeeze in a little bit of work on my elephants.  and this is the start of tanner, the next commission up on the drawing board! i'm progressing quite well considering i sprained my index finger on my right hand about a month ago, and it's just not healing...maybe if i stopped drawing for awhile, but that's near to impossible to do as i'm pretty much obsessed with drawing every day!!

in the home stretch

almost done now with Bella...should be able to finish her tonight if i'm not interrupted!!