Seven - the "unicorn"

I'm excited to be a very small part of Katie Kilcullen's story for 2025. She is being crowned Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon queen. I'm donating a portrait for her silent auction to help raise money to cover her expenses for the year. The thing I have realized over the last few years, commissioned portraits don't grab a lot of attention when you have cards and posters laid out next to actual objects people can see and hold. My solution was to do my typical Facebook photo search and find a picture of Katie's horse I could use to create a portrait to have on display. This is Seven, Kaitie's only horse and best friend, according to her bio on FB Miss Rodeo Oregon, it is created with pastel pencil on mat.

"Seven"

This is becoming the most inspirational donation I have done so far. As I read more about Katie, the more impressed I am with what she has accomplished over the last few years. She didn't enter her rodeo queen career until the age of 16 as the Miss Philomath Frolic and Rodeo Queen. She now will be dedicating her time to inspire others. Her platform is "Beauty from Ashes" which comes from losing her father 13 years ago and finding beauty from an incredibly difficult situation. Her bio also mentions how she hopes to brighten someone's day during her reign. This is also my goal with my art - make someone smile, brighten a day a little, notice the beauty around us!

The beginning of adding color

Getting closer, pencils everywhere

I started my portrait business after nights of sketching while working as a police dispatcher on the graveyard shift. Co-workers asked me to sketch their pets off and on, so it was a great lead into an idea for post-retirement. I feel like I too started this path a little late in life, but it is building nicely. I took a workshop for a colored pencil horse, made a portrait of my own Merle Hazzard then put my idea out there on social media.  Katie earned her first title 2 years ago; my first sale was 4 years ago.

My workshop on a colored pencil horse I took through Ann Kullberg SOAR workshop taught by Vickie Lawrence in 2019

My first portrait using colored pencil on suede matboard of my little mascot Merle Hazzard 2019

 I have learned a lot and been honing my skills in the last 4 years. I hope to share different parts of my process in the coming year to let you see a little behind the scenes of the hours that go into each portrait and hopefully see the love that goes into each one also.

The photo I used for my portrait of Seven

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please, let me know if you have any questions.

Shannon