Young artist wins big at Ventura County Fair

ARTIST ADORES ANIMALS-Sierra Chartier is an accomplished artist-and she's only 9 years old. Sierra's love of painting animal portraits landed her in the winner's circle at the Ventura County Fair. The fourth grader's painting of a horse received Best in Class and First Place and her rendition of a bunny earned her the Director's Award, presented to only four artists out of 6,000 entries. When most toddlers were chewing on their crayons, Sierra Chartier, now 9, was handling the waxy colored sticks with skill, drawing pictures of her favorite subject-animals.

Sierra is an accomplished artist and she's only in the fourth grade at Sumac Elementary School in Agoura Hills. She was recently honored for her artistic ability at the Ventura County Fair, winning the Division Award, Best in Class and First Place for her painting of a horse and flowers.

Judges were even more impressed with Sierra's painting of a bunny, which captured the Director's Award, an honor presented to only four artists out of 6,000 entries.

Sierra's parents, Heidi and Robert Chartier, proudly display their daughter's artwork throughout their Old Agoura home.

A painting of a puppy in a window hangs in the entry. Then there are the paintings of the fox peeking out of a pipe in one of the bedrooms, an elephant in the brush, a bear in Yellowstone National Park, a cheetah and a curious looking raccoon framed in the hallway.

A painting of a pink pig set against a bright blue sky backdrop is framed for display in the Chartiers' downstairs bedroom. But Sierra doesn't like that picture very much. She said the texture on the pig's head, created with brush strokes, was a mistake, one that art teachers and judges would frown upon. "She's her own worst critic," said Sierra's mother.

The lone-wolf painting in the family's den evokes a somber mood through muted tones of blue and gray and subtle lighting adds depth to her subject. The wolf's fur appears backlit by the moon's glow.

Chartier said her daughter takes art lessons at two studios-Art is Our Passion and For Art's Sake, and creates her animal portraits from pictures she finds in magazines.

Once in a while Sierra will stray from her favorite subject of animals and paint a picture as a present for friends and family. For her brother, Quinn, she painted a baseball bat, mitt and ball, a work he proudly displays in his bedroom.

Art, said Sierra, makes her "really happy." Video games and television pale in comparison to wiling away the hours painting, and playing with her mother's favorite childhood toy-Barbie dolls- is entirely out of the question for Sierra.

"I don't want to do nothing but draw," Sierra said.

Family, friends and even teachers are perfectly happy with Sierra's passion for art. At Sumac Elementary, she is often called upon to create posters for fundraising events. For "Sport Day," she produced posters depicting animals participating in all kinds of sporting events. Her favorite subject was a raccoon playing hockey.

"She makes Mommy happy filling up the house with her paintings," Chartier said.

Chartier said her daughter's talent may be inherited from her greatgrandmother who worked as an artist at Paramount Studios. While visiting her grandmother in Napa Valley, Sierra drew a picture of a deer in the exact pose her great-grandmother had captured decades earlier, Chartier said.

Although Sierra may always have a soft spot for wildlife subjects, she has begun to expand her realistic renditions to the abstract. Since her favorite animal is the zebra, as evidenced by her zebra print clothing and bedroom accessories, she is currently at work painting a montage of animal markings, including zebra stripes, on canvas.

Although Sierra might be content to draw, draw, draw, her parents have encouraged her to participate in sports and branch out with other artistic endeavors. She takes piano lessons, swims, plays hockey and sings in her school's chorus.