When we learned that C would be involved in the exhibition at the National Gallery, we were thrilled. C was equally excited and started working on her project.

The art school that C attends, it was the school's 20th anniversary and the staff marked the occasion with a huge celebration. Teachers were honored, and of course students who have walked through its doors were given recognition. The school has helped many students move on to their choice of study in the various reputed universities. C received an award from Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, executive Director of the Association of Banks in Singapore.  She was one of the distinguished guests at the ceremony. 

This is C's masterpiece. Her teacher came up to speak to us while we were admiring her work. She commented that C is good with her technique and she has began conceptualising her own pieces. She knows how to use the research she has done to come up with new ideas. 

When C started on her art lessons, we had expected crafts of different genres and landscapes. Over the years C has tried her hands on very different mediums and she returns with drawings and figurines that amaze us.

She takes her lessons very seriously and we are glad that that she enjoys setting aside that 2 hours every weekend to work on her craft. She told us that she was starting on something she hadn't tried before and we had no idea.

Still very raw but definitely promising. We marvel at her ability to see things in their different dimensions and for a person who can't even draw a straight line with a ruler, I am awestruck. We are truly looking forward to more of her work. :)

C's latest piece:

She spent a fair bit of time on this one and when it was completed, she was extremely pleased. She has always been fond of colours. She said it was the play on colours was because of the glistering lights at night. Not bad at all.

After this piece of work, she has started her lessons on interior designs and returned with some sketches she had done in class. It would be another artwork that we look forward to seeing. :)

This is C's latest piece. She took several weeks to complete it; a total of 5 because this time she used oil. C told us it was painstaking work. In the short 2 hours, there was only so much that she could do as the oil would need a week to completely dry out and before it did, there was really not much she could do.

So she patiently worked on it.

Well done indeed! C was asked if she wanted to turn it in for the exhibition that is coming up. I guess we would be handing the painting back to the School then. 

Of all the mediums she has used, C seems to take a liking to charcoal and she is really quite good with her charcoal.

 This is her latest piece. C commented that this was not her favourite piece though. I thought it was pretty well done The eye looks realistic to my untrained eyes.

This was a piece she did some weeks back. She liked this. :)

Some times, her pieces are really beautiful and then there are the occasion ones which have us wondering what was on her mind when she drew them.

We asked if it was a  rose and she shook her head. Daddy commented that it looked like a cake, perhaps a swiss roll and we giggled out loud. C's response was that she just drew circles, like a spiral of sorts and hence the name.

We were looking forward to seeing this piece of work - from the day C started working on it, she has been telling us that it was a difficult piece to draw. She spent 5 sessions of 2-hours each to complete it and when she emerged from class holding her artwork, she was extremely pleased.

She took a while to name this piece and I tried to suggest several. She finally settled on "Caitlyn" because she said there is something creative about her. The coy smile seems to suggest that she is demure and those forlorn eyes focussed intently look screams that "melancholy" - Perhaps the pain was too much to express yet there is a certain calmness and serenity in that smile.

We would read comics at some point in our lives; I did when I was in my teenage years, Daddy did too. Cheryl also has her favourites as well. When I saw that there was a manga drawing workshop being organised by Artistori, an art enrichment centre, I immediately signed her up for it.

For a good 4 days, C spent 3 hours each morning learning how to draw manga. Her takeaway from the class - she knew that there was a great focus on the facial expressions of the characters, she learned that light and shading gives the characters different looks and dimensions. Oh, the eyes, she learned to draw soulful, expressive, and sparkling big eyes.

These pictures were taken by Teacher Vernon - he was the one who taught the class. 

She enjoyed herself immensely and even though she had to wake up at 7 am each day to get ready for the 1.5 hours of peak-hour traveling, she took it in her stride. I guess, we call that passion. :)

C worked on this piece for a long time; it took her about a month to complete it. For the past few weeks, we would ask her if she was done with the piece she was working on and each time she would reply that she wasn't as the piece was difficult.

She revealed that the blending of the colours was the part that took the bulk of the time and she needed to work very carefully in case she made any mistakes. The end product was amazing and breath-taking.

:) She was pleased with it. Passion; that was what we tell her. Passion is all about hard work and working diligently for the things she loves. In all the gruelling work, she finds satisfaction and fulfilment and these are the things that keep her going.

C loves her craft. She loves to dance, to sing and to draw. She looks forward to every Saturday because she gets to spend a good part of the afternoon doing something she loves.

She has been with the school for close to 5 years now and with Teacher Dennis, 2 years. In his report and review, he commented that C has a soft spot for trees and she was able to produce several projects of that theme though using different styles. He noted that she is very serious and quite uniquely and differently, C isn't afraid of making mistakes. Daddy and I think this is really remarkable of her. :)

I have asked her several times if she would like to start working on a portfolio and each time, she declined saying that she was not ready. I think we would be speaking to Teacher Dennis soon to find out if this should be the track she should embark on because we would like to see her do something she is passionate about. 

Every once in a while, C comes back with something besides the usual painting. 

This might have looked simple and small but C worked on it for close to 3 weeks.

After each session, she brought it back to dry and then the next session, brought it back to school to work on it again. Here is her Bunny having his picnic.  

Working with charcoal is definitely one of C's forte. 

Her latest art piece is this owl here. I like the expression on its face; that intense look of concentration.

It was way back in 2010 when C started her art class and over the course of 5 years, we have seen her skills improved. C loves the time she spends with her teacher every Saturday and it is always something she looks forward to.

When the School asked if C was keen to participate in the "Savant The Young Artists Among Us", she jumped at the chance and immediately indicated the type of painting she would be working on. On 11 April, the exhibition took place in The Arts House at the Old Parliament House.

For her lesson that morning, C and her classmates had a session in The Chamber. We took the opportunity to take a few pictures before her class started. 

Her art piece

C's latest piece of art work; the Calla Lily was impressive. When she showed us, I was in awe and stood still for a while as I took it in.

We have a huge piece of wall that we left blank. We know we want to hang a piece of art there but for now, it will stay this way for Precious; We are looking forward to her returning with a bigger canvas. :)

For some reason, I forgot to write about this.

This is C's latest piece: The Renaissance woman.

She said only the woman was but everything else in the background wasn't exactly. Over the years, C's paintings have clearly shown her maturity too and she will be starting on her portfolio with her teacher soon.

Currently, she is working on another "large" art work and we can't wait for her to be done.

This afternoon, C was part of the team which made history.

Mrs Lim, the teacher-in-charge of the School's Art Club which C is in, had signed the members up for the event and C was thrilled to be part of it.

The previous record was a 9.1km drawing and now, the challengers, together with Mr Peter Draw, were going for a 10km record. Mr Draw is an artist and philanthropist and his drawings have inspired many young people especially children in countries around the world. Mr Draw is no stranger to the Guinness Books of Records- he has broken 2: for drawing the largest caricature in the world in 2007 and for teaching the largest art lesson in the world in 2010.

 At 9 am, she assembled in the holding area with her fellow club mates who were also involved in the event.

This picture was taken at 3 pm; a good 6 hours later when the event came to a close. She was tired but happy still to play her part.

Some 2 weeks back, C sent us this picture:

and we hadn't the slightest clue what it was. Initially, we thought it was the crater of a volcano but the colour scheme was not appropriate for that of a volcano so we asked her what it was. C just casually replied that he was the sun and she didn't want to elaborate as she said it was a surprise.

Hence you could imagine our amazement when she came out of her class with this:

She has aptly named it "The Tree of Life" and then it all made sense what the bright yellow ball of light was. :) Now this art work is sitting proudly in our living room above the television set. :) 

When C said she did Cave Art, I had in mind something that looked like this:

But what I didn't except was this:

C and her teachers never fail to amaze me with their creativity. I thought that the art work would be done on drawing paper but this was something that we hadn't expected; firstly, it really resembled a piece of stone wall because of the colour scheme and texture and the painting of the buffalo, though simple was done so realistically, we stared at it for quite a while.

Simplicity is beauty. :)

A paper collage and she was pleased with herself for coming up with the idea and putting the piece together.

She was worried initially as a classmate had asked her if it was a building that she was trying to put together. When she was done with the collage, she quickly showed it to us and very softly asked if we could make out what it was.

It was pretty funny when she related an incident that happened during art class. She had initially sketched a panda but...

when she added the patches over the eyes, her art teacher commented that her panda look more like a racoon. Haha! I guess that did it for her because she chose to work on another another animal the following week.

and this was the finished product. Not too bad, I must say. She even named the pup, "Happy"