Meet Kathryn Hansen

We were lucky to catch up with Kathryn Hansen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kathryn, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
In 2018 I entered the prestigious Birds in Art Exhibition in Wausau Wisconsin and got in with my drawing, Sittin’ in the Morning Sun. What an incredible thrill it was to be in a show with amazing artists that I not only admired for many years but were the top artists in wildlife art…such as Robert Bateman, Terry Miller and Carl Brenders. Everything was fine until I got there and was overwhelmed with imposter syndrome, despite Terry telling me how much he liked my piece. It was so bad I couldn’t even enter the following year as I felt I didn’t belong there among the greats. Since then I’ve overcome those feelings of not belonging and not feeling worthy enough by not only enhancing my artistic skills but also taking the time to reflect and journal on what I was experiencing. It showed up after all to tell me something about myself. We all have parts of us that want to keep us small, trying to protect us and keep us safe but if I wanted to thrive as an artist I needed to do the work to get through it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Animals have been a powerful force in my life and a never ending source of inspiration for my drawings. I love creating animal drawings in both graphite and colored pencils, capturing the essence and soul of each one. I draw both my own cats and dog around my home and wildlife I photograph on my travels around the world, most recently my family trip to Kenya in the summer of 2023.

My most recent work is a portrait in graphite of a mother elephant and her baby that we saw in Amboseli, with plans to create at least a dozen more pieces of African wildlife for future exhibitions and galleries.

I am a signature member of both the Society of Animal Artists and Colored Pencil Society of America. Last year I won the coveted CIPPY award in CPSA with my drawing A Tweetable Moment, which is a scene of my cat Kotie in our backyard.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think one of the most impactful things I do, is to consistently draw every single day. Despite all the art education I’ve received, having a daily practice noticeably improved my skills. Spending a lot of time with both graphite and colored pencils I got to know their advantages and limitations and my skills advanced more quickly and I became more proficient in both.

One of the best things I learned in my art classes in college and then art school was drawing from life. Drawing from life is dynamic. You learn to observe and train your eye to really see what you’re drawing. Just learning to capture the essence of your subject, you start seeing it in a whole new way. In school we drew and painted from live models, later on I drew at the zoo and now I draw my animals every chance I get. Learning this important skill is the foundation for a successful piece.

Learning good composition has been essential to the success of my drawings. Knowing how to lead the viewer’s eye to the focal point and secondary focal point in my pieces creates a visually appealing drawing. Even with strong skills, if I have a weak composition it will be the downfall of the piece. I learned the most about composition listening to the Plein Air Podcast for years and taking vigorous notes.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
I would say the biggest challenge I face is in the area of production. Since I work a full time job I can only squeeze in about 25-30 studio hours a week and my medium of choice, colored pencils is the slowest medium there is. I’m trying to resolve that by working more in graphite pencil, which doesn’t take me as long, and cutting back on the size of my pieces. I’m also planning to experiment a bit this summer using watercolors and gouache with colored pencil. I think all of these things will help speed things up so I can create more work.

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