I don’t look at visual arts only as a hobby but also as a means to express, inform and reflect. Practicing VA has taught me to recognize and appreciate the beauty around me that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. I have been involved in VA ever since I was a little child. However, as I grew up, school started becoming more and more demanding and I had almost forgotten what it felt like to hold a paintbrush against a canvas until this year. I started taking VA lessons after school hours to reconnect with art. It also led me to explore career pathways related to this field and helped me become more focused. The classes took place for about two hours twice a week.

The aim of the class was more than merely pursuing a hobby but also to help me prepare for life after school. That is if I decide to study art full time. The classes helped me build a portfolio which is required to apply to any art colleges and also helped me prepare for Indian entrance exams.

As an extension to this hobby, I taught art to underprivileged children in a school event. Every year our school organizes Bal Mela, where we get an opportunity to interact with children from rural areas of our city. We teach them art, dance, play games with them and organize workshops. I was assigned to the graffiti wall and face painting committee.

Learning outcomes achieved:-

• LO2 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth and Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills. I discovered that I don’t work well with pencils. I struggled with pencil shading and even in drawing still lives. From then I made it my goal to focus on that despite my dislike for it because I knew I had to polish all my skills to become a balanced artist. So instead of painting and doing other things I spent most of my time practicing drawing with pencil.

• LO3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience. Organising an event (Bal Mela) on such a big scale requires a lot of planning. We had to coordinate with our school to order resources. In order to determine the quantity of the resources, we had to do a lot of research. Some factors we kept in mind were: the number of participants, the age of the participants, and the position of the wall. Apart from this, we also drew a mural on a wall one day before the event to make sure that the students have an outline to paint within.

• LO4 Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience. The annual school night out took place just a day before Bal Mela. My whole team was very tired because of the sleepless night we had just had. Despite this, we had to make sure that we remain enthusiastic and welcoming throughout the event. Also, we had to stand for hours at a time in the face painting stall. This was a huge challenge but after seeing the smiles on the children’s faces it all seemed worth it.

• LO7 Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions. To practice and perfect certain skills it is often advised to imitate already existing drawings. Copying paintings made by other artists is considered a serious offense. I made sure that I did not take credit for someone else’s ideas.