Katie O’Brien |
Animal & Portrait Artist
Mixed Media Portraiture in Pastel, Charcoal, and Acrylic
Wildlife Fine Art and Portrait Commissions
As a wildlife and portrait artist based in Kentucky, animals have always been my teachers. My work connects us to other living beings. Using mixed media like pastel, charcoal, and acrylic, I capture form, muscle, light, and the quiet intelligence in a gaze. These pieces explore form and honor our shared place in the natural world.
Katie O’Brien
About the Artist
Biography
Katie O’Brien is a lifelong observer of animal behavior. Her artistic practice is shaped by a lifetime spent around animals—from her horse farm in the Kentucky bluegrass to the mountain forests of Rwanda, where she worked with conservation teams studying and protecting gorillas. That experience led to The Innocents, a body of work honoring both the gorillas and the people who risk their lives for their survival.
Her ongoing collaboration with conservation organizations like the Columbus Zoo’s Partners in Conservation reflects her belief that art and conservation are key paths to understanding the connections between how we share the natural world.
Working in mixed media, she creates pieces that explore the individuality and intelligence of animals, as well as the complex ways humans relate to them. Her compositions are often a balance of form but grounded by shadow, light, shape, and gesture.
Wildlife artist Katie O’Brien’s fine art portraits in mixed media explore the anatomy, emotion, and individuality of animals and the people who care for them.
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Henry Beston
The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
Artwork | Fine Art Portraiture
Katie O’Brien’s mixed media portrait series include The Innocents, The Wild, Equine, Dogs, and Human Portraiture.
Inquire About a Commission
Katie O’Brien creates custom
wildlife,
equine,
dog, and
human
portraits in mixed media. Each commission is an opportunity to honor a life, a bond, or a shared story through fine art.
Portrait Commissions in Kentucky
Whether the subject is a beloved animal companion, a working horse, or a human portrait, Katie O’Brien approaches every piece with the same discipline she brings to her field studies and studio practice: close observation of light and form with a respect for individuality.
Whenever possible, she meets subjects in person—direct engagement informs the composition, tone, and emotion of each piece. When travel or logistics prevent an in-person session, she can create pieces from high-quality reference photographs.
For memorial or posthumous portraits, Katie works closely with clients to understand the subject’s story before beginning.
• Wildlife Art Commissions
• Equine Portrait Commissions
• Dog Portraits
• Human Portraits
Kentucky Artist Portrait Commissioning Process:
- Inquiry: Submit details about your subject, desired size, and timeline through the contact form.
- Consultation: Discuss vision and composition as Katie O’Brien learns about the subject.
- Proposal: A written estimate outlines scope, pricing, and timeline.
- Creation: Once approved, Katie begins the piece in her Kentucky studio.
- Delivery: Completed artwork can be shipped or picked up locally, with professional packaging and care instructions provided.
Katie O’Brien Portraits For Galleries & Professional Inquiries
Katie O’Brien is open to partnerships with galleries, collectors, conservation organizations, museums, and educational institutions that share her commitment to wildlife preservation and public engagement through art. Past collaborations include her ongoing relationship with the Columbus Zoo’s Partners in Conservation, supporting gorilla protection and environmental education.
For all gallery, exhibition, or partnership requests, please use the form below or contact Katie directly. She personally reviews each inquiry and responds with availability, portfolio access, and additional materials upon request.
