Kayla Batchasingh

My name is Kayla Batchasingh, I’m 17 years old and for as long as I can remember art has been a huge part of my identity. My parents are artists so I grew up in a home full of creativity, art for me is therapeutic and helps me express feelings I can’t put into words. I always thought of myself highly with regards to my art skills, therefore when I began to do it as a CXC subject, but I struggled with accepting that I was not at the top of the class. However, throughout my two year experience I became more humble, improved my skills through trial and error and learned to appreciate the different approaches to art taken by my peers. During my journey I experimented with many different mediums such as acrylic, alcohol markers, charcoal etc. My preferred medium is acrylic paint, it’s vibrant, opaque and therefore convenient to work with. I learned that on canvas it does not mix well once put onto the piece, however this can be used in favour of creating bold, solid shapes. It is a versatile paint and thus very easy to use and experiment with. In my CXC pieces, however, I chose the media according to the style of piece. Considering my theme was ‘The Different Art Styles’ I had to manipulate my materials accordingly, for instance in ‘The Killing Joke’ and ‘Strictly the Best’ pieces which replicated styles that were often printed, I used alcohol markers as they would appear flat on the paper as if they were. To conclude, art has always been and always will be very personal to me and has contributed greatly to my development.