Alison Dickerson (17) was invited by organiser Julian Bale to paint for the street art prize, for which competitors had to brave the elements for six days, painting outside on big canvases.
Dickerson’s mural won her the $500 prize, but in the process pushed her firmly outside her comfort zone of creating realistic, detailed pencil drawings.
The Comment News could even hear her the scratches of her pencil during her phone interview.
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READ NOWWhen quizzed, she confessed she was ‘just doing a little sketching’ while she talked about how she had come to grips with the idea of completing an island-themed painting.
She ended up choosing to paint a Caribbean macaw.
‘I still made it as realistic as I could, but usually I use shading for definition and detail, whereas in painting you have to get the colours right,’ she said.
My drawings are usually a lot smaller too, and I bend over a desk, but for this I had to stand at a very big board, so it was a whole different angle.
‘It was quite challenging to do something so big so quickly and it was quite cold as well ” sometimes you got a mental block, just wanting to go sit in front of a fire.
‘But I was definitely happy with what I ended up with.’
Dickerson, who finished high school last year, is taking a gap year to draw.
She plans to study art at Tafe next year.
Her drawing of pop singer Pink earned her a place in the annual 25 Under 25 exhibition in Fremantle, and her drawing I am Legend won the People’s Choice Award in the 2014 City of Gosnells Community Art Awards Youth Award category.