After recently renewing her forays into art, Canal Number Two resident Maryanna Persaud has been quickly gaining an audience for her work.
The budding young artist got an unexpected boost this past week after one of her recent portraits caught the eye of its subject, a semifinalist on reality contest America’s Got Talent.
Persaud posted the artwork on her Instagram account on Wednesday and America’s Got Talent semifinalist Brett Loudermilk reposting it the same day on his account.
“I was thrilled and excited that he recognized my painting,” Persaud, who is self-taught, told Stabroek Weekend.
The painting of Loudermilk, a magician, was first sketched using Prismacolor pencils. Once this drawing was done, the artist took a photo of the drawing and using a digital app on her phone did a digital painting to create the finish product.
Persaud, 22, who is the youngest of three sisters, grew up in Cheltenham, Leguan, a small but tightly-knit community made up mostly of her relatives. As a little girl, she was fascinated with mermaids and drew and coloured many of them. She also filled the pages in her books with beaches, people dancing on the beaches, persons flying kites and lots of flowers. The young woman noted that she believes she got her knack for art from her mother, who would draw little flowers on her paper folders whenever she had school assignments.
She recalls dabbling in art whenever the subject was done in class at the nursery and primary levels. However, by the time she began attending Leguan Secondary School, there were no art classes to be done but she would return to drawing and colouring in school in fourth form when she and fellow classmates had to draw diagrams for their science class. Over time, she honed a skill for blending colours. Science class would be the last time for years that Persaud would consistently try her hand at art.
Two months ago, after feeling cooped up and bored, Persaud felt like drawing again. She had the Prismacolor pencil set sitting nearby and used those to sketch and colour a drawing of popular American singer/songwriter Billy Eilish. At the time, the artist hadn’t yet learnt of the digital painting app.
Though she has done a series of paintings and sketches for relatives, most of Persaud’s work focuses on celebrities.
Loudermilk came to her attention as Persaud and her family are usually glued to their television for NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which is now in its 15th season. She shared that in addition to his amazing acts, she became fascinated with the sword swallower’s pink hair, which led to her creating a painting.
According to the artist she is still working on perfecting her skills and she remains persistent in doing the best she can. “I’m a very determined person. If I see there is a mistake, I try and try to fix it until I perfect it. I am still working on perfecting the outline and clothing of my [subjects] and [am] putting every effort in to do my best,” she said.
To date she has an average of 25 sketches and paintings. Often when she sits down to do one of paintings, the artist puts on a little background music while her pet parrot, Toney, watches on from the perch on her shoulder.
Most of her inspirations, she said, comes from her support team, including her parents and other family members and friends. “My family believes that my art will take me places,” Persaud said.
She also draws inspiration from nature and from Krisco Arts, which she follows on Instagram.
“Painting means a lot to me. The world is an art by itself. It builds your imagination and you see all the little details. You learn about blending colours. When I was much younger, the first colours I blended were green and blue. I do blending of makeup for myself and friends and family also. I’m not sure if [makeup artistry] is something I plan on doing but I am considering it. I am planning to do makeup tutorials and post to social media even if I don’t do makeup as a business,” said Persaud.
The young artist also shared that she and her family are planning to move to Canada in the near future. She is a prospective student of Humber College. In fact, she and her family should have migrated already so that she could start school in September but owing to COVID-19, school plans have now be postponed until September of next year.
Persaud will be getting into the medical field. She plans on becoming a nurse before she takes up advanced studies to pursue a career in cosmetic surgery. However, in addition to her pursuit in the medical field, she also intends to open an art studio in the North American country.
She spends her free time watching art tutorials on Facebook and Instagram, reading romance novels and enjoying the company of Toney.
Persaud can be contacted at Facebook at Maryanna’s Artworks or on Instagram at @maryannapersaud1.
