FORT WORTH -- Not far from Sarah Barnett's home, cattle and horses roam free on a neighbor's land.
Barnett, 18, a senior at Keller High School, found inspiration in one of the cows gazing over the fence and sketched the animal with colored pencils.The artwork earned Grand Champion of the Star-Telegram Stock Show Art Contest on Saturday."I love drawing animals," said Barnett, who received a $3,000 scholarship. "I love trying to capture their spirit."More than 1,000 artists ages 5 to 18 submitted pieces for the annual competition, which organizers say offers students across the state the opportunity to showcase talent.Artists were instructed to use their imagination to create work expressing the spirit of the Stock Show and this year's theme, "Buck the Ordinary."For Emilio Harth-Bedoya, 6, a first-grade student at Tanglewood Elementary in Fort Worth, that meant a swine race, with pigs wearing different number tags. Emilio won first place in the 5- to 6-year-old division.A panel of six professional artists judged the submissions based on artistic merit, creativity and interpretation of the theme.Artists of winning entries received a total of $20,000 in cash and college scholarships.Barnett, who hopes to attend Savannah College of Art and Design, plans to use her scholarship to study art and has already started a pet portrait business.Stanislav Nedzelskyi, 16, who plans to study architecture, received Reserve Grand Champion and a $2,500 scholarship for his pen-and-ink drawing of a young girl playing the fiddle for animals in a barn."Drawing animals is meditative," said Nedzelskyi, who attends Coram Deo Academy in Flower Mound.Gabbi Russell, 8, of Bridgeport, won first place in the 7- to 8-year-old division for her depiction of a cattle drive, which she created with watercolor paint. Animals and flowers are her favorite art subjects.Her father, Wesley Russell, said he likes what art and this competition offer his children."She can be free and let her imagination run wild," Russell said. "It gets her out of the young rat race."Sarah Bahari, 817-390-7056Twitter: @sarahbfwHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
