John Austin Hanna Biography Continued:

...His artistic discipline was finely tuned while working as a commercial illustrator in New York and Dallas until tired of the hectic life of big city living he moved to the smaller community of Fredericksburg to concentrate on his painting career. 

     John’s canvases are saturated with light and color, some depicting a large-scale scene while others focus on such images as a small section of a fence or wildflowers on the bank of a stream.  He is constantly searching for “all things great or small” to portray in his work.

     Native Texan John Austin Hanna insists his career really took off once he traded in the skyline of Manhattan for the rock houses and old barns of Fredericksburg, Texas. "My years in New York as an illustrator were great, but I wasn't really following my heart," explains Hanna. "Throughout my childhood in Beaumont, I was always drawing and dreaming of becoming a 'real' artist. I finally decided that I had to pursue that dream."

     Hanna knew he found the way to his heart's desire in the first visit to the rugged Germanic hills of Texas. "My wife and I moved into a 92 year old house on Main Street twenty years ago," Hanna says of his Fredericksburg home. "We're definitely here to stay." Strong in dramatic light and rich in color, Hanna's paintings reflect his love for the Texas landscape. "I like to roll out of bed in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, hop into my pickup and just drive around the countryside for inspiration," he reveals. "Something always triggers a painting - an old house, a rock wall, maybe just light playing on creek water. I never run out of things to see."

     His sporting art reflects a keen eye. “I prefer to be a spectator when it comes to fishing and outdoor sports. It gives me an opportunity to study and understand the visual attributes of the sport. The better I understand the scene I undertake to paint, the more tools I have to make the action come alive.”

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