by Wendy Wei
Angela Zhang. She’s placed 2nd in the intermediate group at the 2015 art contest held by the Lexington Chinese School. (Shown below)
As a young girl, Angela loved to draw. But, come on, pretty much ALL five year old girls like drawing. Plus, she wasn’t really devoted. She just did it for fun. Over the years, Angela became more and more interested in art and drawing.
In second grade, she was able to get an actual art teacher, who taught her art techniques. This was when she really got into art and actually tried to draw well, instead of just random five-year-old doodles.
In third grade, she read the book Penelope Crumb. This is the story of a little girl who wanted to become an artist. Angela learned a lot about famous artists and works of art, such as Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, in this book. The author inspired her to become an artist, and Angela started to draw more, and was developed a fondness for art. She practiced a lot, and became better and better.
When Angela first saw the flyer for the art contest, she knew she wanted to enter. The idea was already forming in her head, and Angela immediately began sketching out the drawing. Her three hours of hard work were not wasted. Angela had produced a beautiful, award-winning piece of art depicting a girl, dreaming of being a shepherdess herding a flock of sheep. The idea was completely original. Angela came up with everything, from the sleeping girl to the flock of sheep. Her teacher did help her with the shading and positioning, but Angela did the actual drawing completely on her own.
Angela entered her artwork in the competition, not sure he would win, but hopeful, anyways. Well, the judges liked her work, and awarded her second place in the intermediate level.