ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Pancake Day festivities will be taking place in just a couple weeks, and one of the big events of the day is the annual breakfast.
Attendees to the breakfast will be in for a special treat as Annika Wooton will be putting on a speed-painting presentation to commemorate the annual tradition. As Wooton tells it, art has been part of her life for a long time.
“I have been an artist, truly, ever since I could hold a crayon. My dad’s mom is a fine arts painter and my mom is a graphic designer, so my family is very creatively talented in all aspects, and it just runs in my blood,” Wooton said. “So being creative in my life was kind of a no brainer, but when it came to speed painting, the first time I speed-painted was my senior year in high school, and I was really involved in theater as well. A couple of my mentors in the theater space asked if I had considered or considered live painting, so I did it for a school assembly. I didn’t practice, and I did three live paintings for a jazz assembly in front of my entire high school, and it didn’t suck. I actually still have two of the paintings in my living room, and I think it’s cool how those first paintings are still frameworthy in my living room. From there, I never really expected to build a career from that one instance, but I competed in the Miss America organization, and had always looked for a way to put my visual art talent on stage, so I thought ‘If I can do a painting in eight minutes with no practice, surely if I practice a little bit, I can get it down to 90 seconds,’ which is the time limit for Miss America. I did that as my talent for a number of years, competing to be Miss Kansas. I ultimately won Miss Kansas in 2019 and went on to place at the top 15 at Miss America as a speed painter, winning a Talent Award. It was really from there I really honed in on the speed part in that 90 seconds and touring the state that set the groundwork to now have an international career.”
That talent ultimately brought Wooton to Liberal last year.
“I was fortunate to have an art show at Baker Arts Center in Liberal last year, and to my knowledge, that is the first ever gallery show exhibiting speed painting in the world, so it was really neat to have that first show for myself in Liberal,” Wooton said. “I think it was from there that the organizers were reminded I exist, and then they reached out to see if I would be interested and available to come back for Pancake Day. I was in Liberal for Pancake Day when I was Miss Kansas, which I should add, I served as when COVID happened. I’m excited to come back to one of the same events that I attended as Miss Kansas, and come back this year as a painter. The painting will be 48 x 60 inches, which is as big as my easel will go.”
Wooton’s talent has also taken her internationally very recently.
“Just last week, I came back from painting in Malta, which is an island between Italy and Africa, and I’m just really thankful for all of the places that my painting has taken me. Now I can say I’m an internationally known speed painter, and have experience working in that scale, and so I can only imagine what the rest of the year holds,” Wooton said. “February is going to be pretty busy for me, and a lot that’s happening here in Kansas, which I always love, painting for our communities here. But I’m really looking ahead to 2026 to be an explosive year for my career. I’ve been traveling, fortunately, since I was very young, so I’m very familiar on an airplane, and taking my materials overseas was actually easier than I expected it to be. Now that I know how to maneuver it and know how it works, I would definitely be down for another international trip.”
Wooton said she is excited to return to Liberal and for Pancake Day.
“I have to say I’m looking forward to pancakes – I have pancakes every Sunday with my husband at home, so it’s no secret I love a good a good breakfast,” Wooton said with a laugh. “In my career, every painting that I do is customized to the event and to the audience. If you had asked me at the beginning all of all of this, if I thought I was going to do a live painting of someone running flipping a pancake, I’d probably say ‘No, that sounds crazy!’ I haven’t completely finalized the painting, but it’s going to be immortalizing what the tradition is in Liberal with International Pancake Day. So I’m really looking forward to bringing that to life through my painting style well. There’s nothing like a live painting experience. We see so many really cool art expressions on TikTok and Instagram and other places, but to see a painting come to life, start to finish, in front of your eyes, I think, is a really special experience, especially something that is created specifically for this community. They actually asked if I wanted to run in the race, but I am an artist and not a runner, so I will be strictly observing when it comes to the race. But I think one of my really favorite parts about traveling throughout Kansas, both as Miss Kansas and then now, in this capacity of my career, is I do get to know people in the different communities I work in. Coming back to Liberal after a couple of years for my art show last year, I reconnected with some folks, and there are some people I’ve built relationships with on social media. It feels like I’m coming back to a community I know, so I’m excited to see friendly faces, and contribute what I can to a long standing tradition.”
That creative spark has not left Wooton for many years, and she said she is excited to continue working on it.
“I’ve been painting for nearly 15 years – well, speed painting for 15 years now, which is kind of crazy to say. The overall act is the same every time, even though every painting I do is different and every audience I come across is different,” Wooton said. “My favorite part is connecting with people, whether it’s folks in Kansas, in the state that I call home, or across the country and across the world. And so to be able to use my gift and talent of painting and art and connect with communities is one of the most special parts. I’m one of a handful of people that do this professionally at the scale that I do, so there’s not really a blueprint, and there’s not one way to do speed painting. I’ve learned a lot about myself and a lot about exploring the medium I use. But I really think that with the act of speed painting, one of the most common statements is along the lines of ‘Oh, I can’t wait to see how it turns out,’ and I always say ‘Me too,’ because we’re experiencing this together. And for me, it’s like a dance with the painting, so when I flip it and reveal the painting and step back, I’m witnessing that completed painting with everyone else at the exact same time.”
Overall, Wooton said, she hopes people will have a fun time watching her presentation.
“I’m one of, I think, five women who do this nationally at this level, so I say I’m one of the leading female speed painters in the U.S. who has developed this kind of career. I’ve painted in 19 states now, and two countries and counting,” Wooton said. “And even though, you know, I can do a painting in five minutes in front of your eyes, there’s so much work that goes on behind the canvas, so I have been working really hard over the past 15 years to build the skills and the platform I have today, and I’m thankful for people like the folks in Liberal who have invested in me and given me opportunities to showcase my art in different ways.”
