The light falling across a steer’s face was the inspiration for Rebecca Shuttleworth’s prize-winning drawing in this year’s Calgary Stampede youth art competition.
Shuttleworth of Balzac, Alta., hopes to earn a fine arts degree from the University of Leth-bridge.
Her pencil sketch, called A Cowgirl’s Summer, earned her a $2,000 scholarship.
Shuttleworth recently graduated from high school in Airdrie, where she was enrolled in an art class. The award-winning piece was part of a school project based on a photo of a friend and a steer.
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She completed the project over five days during Christmas break.
“I knew it was going to be a good one,” she said.
With encouragement from her family and art teacher, she decided to enter the Stampede’s western showcase competition.
Shuttleworth said she has been interested in art all her life.
While in Grade 6, she started private lessons and spent hours spent creating with pencil, pastels, charcoal and paint.
“I noticed this is what I should be doing,” she said. “I have always believed you should use your talents to advantage.”
Shuttleworth grew up on a purebred Charolais ranch where her parents, Darryl and Maria, raise about 200 cows. Much of Shuttleworth’s art carries a western influence.
“Farming has been my passion so it has carried into my art,” she said.
While the student works are not officially for sale, Shuttleworth has decided to enter the business side of art and is building a website to showcase her work.
Second place winner Andrea Die-bold of Claresholm received a $1,750 scholarship for her oil painting of a young cowboy. Third place and $1,500 went to Taylor deBoer of Cochrane for an acrylic painting entitled Sunset Owl.
The competition is open to Grade 12 students across southern Alberta.
The work must reflect western culture, lifestyle or heritage.
