This project was done in my 2D design class at Clackamas Community College. The brief was to create a monochromatic color scheme painting. I decided to go with an orange hue, with some gold metallic added in at the end. I sketched many ideas until I landed on a dune landscape. This piece is a little more personal to me. I wanted to capture the feeling of freedom and determination amidst the chaos that surrounds oneself. This sparked the idea for the horse running through the dune from a far perspective.
My professor told me that I should enter it in the CCC art competition, so I decided to do that for fun. From this competition, I ended up receiving an Honorable Mention from the Lee Hutchison Art Excellence Award. About a week later, I received an email from the art director at CCC telling me that the Senator of Oregon was interested in having my piece in the Capitol building. You can now find Chasing Dreams on the Senate floor, hanging in their office until July of 2025. I am so blessed and grateful for the opportunity that God has given me. Through this project, I gained clarity and wisdom about where I need to be and lost the unrealistic expectations that I have for myself.