Featured Artist Kathryn Hansen

Featured artist Kathryn Hansen’s drawings capture animals and the everyday world in amazing detail. Enjoy and please visit her website to see more of her portfolio.

 

 

As a child I was always drawing animals… an owl, beavers or my pets (we had a lot… my pink bedroom resembled a pet shop more than a child’s bedroom.) So animals and nature dominate my work as I have such an intense love for both!

 

 

I’ve had an amplitude of formal training throughout the years but I will say that I totally believe in the old saw: practice, practice, practice! I draw almost every single evening or weekend (I have a day job), whether it’s a half hour or five hours.

 

 

I majored in studio arts (and partying!) at the University of Stevens Point Wisconsin, getting my BFA in the early 80’s. I was accepted into the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design a few years later. Moved to California with my two small children in 1998 and studied at Associates in Art in Sherman Oaks and painted under Margot Lennartz.

 

 

Throughout the years, I have enjoyed working in oils, acrylics, collage, and wood carving, but I have always returned to my love of drawing.

 

 

My drawings rely heavily on contrast and textural variation to create an emotional impact. My obsessive need for perfection creates a very detailed style. I am not only after a realistic drawing, but I also work hard at capturing a mood or the personality of my subject.

 

 

I really don’t know why, but I approach each drawing individually. Sometimes I work the drawing over all, going over it 3-4 times until it’s completed. At other times I work on it section by section. Weirdly, I just start and let the process unfold as I am going. Iit’s definitely not something I work out beforehand.

 

 

These days, I am creating more wildlife scenes then pet portraits, as I love the challenge of drawing twisty tree branches and bark, ground cover and vines, the leathery hide of an elephant and weather-beaten wood.

 

 

I am constantly inspired by my love of animals, hiking out in nature with my dog Josie and artists such as Andrew Wyeth, Terry Miller, Michael Dumas and David Jon Kassan (they are like out of this world awesome!)