Visual Arts, specifically painting used to be something that I loved to do as a kid. However, for a long time, I was disconnected from this field due to studies. I attended several drawing and painting classes till grade 8, I had learned drawing and painting professionally, but I never practiced canvas painting in my life. I took up this as part of my CAS and decided to make 4 aesthetic canvas paintings to learn something new and for room decor purposes too. While creating these canvas paintings I demonstrated the following LOs:

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth:

As previously mentioned, I like painting but I identified one area of growth in that field which was canvas painting. It fascinated me a lot, but I never explored it well. In CAS I identified my strength that was painting and decided to enhance it and learn a new form which was canvas painting, using acrylic paints. Using youtube videos as a medium to learn, I watched canvas painting videos and learned them successfully.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Finding accurate and correct videos to learn canvas paintings from the basics was a challenge that I faced. Youtube being an extremely huge platform where millions of videos are available, finding the accurate and reliable video to learn canvas painting was a challenge for me. Using my research skills and after evaluating many videos I finally chose one video to learn canvas painting. Hence, I also developed good research and evaluations skills during this process.

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

I planed to initiate this CAS experience in my Diwali Vacation and planned it precisely. I created a rough timeline on google keep where I decided to find a correct, reliable and accurate video of canvas painting, watch it carefully, then select inspirations (saving images ) of what paintings to create. Next, I even planned and created a list of resources I need to buy to make the paintings and when to do them. (Evidence for the planning of this CAS experience)

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences:

When I started making my first canvas painting, which had 3 sunflowers with the quote “smile wider”, so after completing the painting, when I started writing the quote using the black paint and directly from the brush, I messed up and then I just ruined the entire painting. I kept perseverance and showed commitment by, painting the entire canvas again with white color, then making the entire sunflower drawing again, and at the end, I created the sunflower painting. Hence I showed as well as developed perseverance and commitment during this CAS experience. 

Overall, I also saw myself demonstrating certain learner profiles throughout this CAS experience. I was a thinker as I thought and analyzed various learning tools, then select anyone, afterward after a lot of critical thinking and analyzing the aesthetics I decided on 4 designs. I was also reflective, as in between I reflected on my work, corrected it when needed, and learned from my previous painting, this made my next painting even better. These were the 2 learner profiles that I developed and demonstrated during my CAS experience.

The highlight of this experience was seeing my own commitment and passion towards art. I never thought I would enjoy myself so much why practicing arts, I discovered something new about myself. Initially, I thought, arts was just done for the sake of doing it, but it calmed me. It was so soothing and therapeutic, I really enjoyed every bit of this process. I learned painting skills, knowledge of colors, and my own interests from this experience. If next time I do this activity, I will use a bigger size of canvas and try a new form of painting. Overall, the entire experience was successful and fun.

Evidence of the canvas painting (Time-lapse video:)