Entirely self-taught, Ms Wilson started painting at the age of 18 after watching YouTube tutorials, refining her skills and speed, making sure she could complete a wedding painting in real time.<\/p>\n
Ms Wilson sets up her easel at a ceremony and goes about capturing a special moment in time with the painting done in about seven hours.<\/p>\n
She has done at least 35 weddings across WA, and business is thriving.<\/p>\n
It could well be something she could pursue as a career, but she\u2019s not keen on making her life passion a full-time job for fear of falling out of love with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the trade really builds stability for me, but my creativity brings out my freedom. And together, they kind of shape a fuller life for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"McKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2ad223a33de75f6128ff3859df3654b3413621cb.jpg\")
Camera IconMcKenzie Wilson. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
With just over a year left of her apprenticeship to go, Ms Wilson is challenging stereotypes in a male-dominated industry and hopes to be a role model to other women wanting to pursue a trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very difficult at the start as I didn\u2019t realise how few females were in the trade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was quite an eye opener, because I was on site at one point, and I think it was like 50 guys, and it was just me as the only girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m just glad I\u2019ve done it. I have made a really close friend who\u2019s a girl who does plumbing, and there are plenty more girls coming in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very male-dominated industry, but it doesn\u2019t stop me, and I\u2019m supported by great males.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Wilson\u2019s creativity earned her a runner-up award at Rheem\u2019s Aussie Plumbers\u2019 Hidden Talents after stunning judges with her talent.<\/p>\n
Now in its eighth year, Rheem Australia\u2019s competition has become a crowd favourite, challenging stereotypes and shining a spotlight on the secrets of Australia\u2019s plumbing community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet McKenzie Wilson \u2014 a 22-year-old apprentice plumber from Perth with an incredible hidden talent. Ms Wilson spends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[449,64,63,134,46,45],"class_list":["post-186644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-arts","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-perth","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}