Grace Merritt. Many students may have seen her art in Mr. Long’s class or on Instagram, where she shows off her artistic masterpieces to the world. If you have seen her work before, you will be able to recognize her style, pastel or neutral colors mellowly blended together to create her immediate recognizable style. When I asked her what she’d describe her style as Grace said, “I guess I’d call it illustrated realism.” She doesn’t really enjoy fantasy characters though, saying that was one of her least favorite types of work, but she still respects it.

Grace first started experimenting with art a little before high school, but she discovered her passion for art when she was in Mr. Long’s beginning art class freshman year. She is now taking AP Art with Mr. Long and she is in her fourth year of art. Grace said that it’s “the best art class I’ve ever taken,” although she said she didn’t want to pursue art as a career. Grace did however state that no matter what she ends up doing–hopefully something in the plant science field–she will keep art as a hobby. She has visited some art museums; however, she wasn’t into art yet. Grace did say that she enjoyed them despite that.

All artists get artists block at some point– it’s inevitable. I asked Grace what she did to combat artists block and find inspiration for her artwork. When finding inspiration for a piece she said she usually looks at some of her favorite artists works and tries to gather many pictures all together to create one existential image. Janice Sung, Elly Smallwood, and Harriet Lee-Merrion are among some of her favorite artists.