Haslingden High School student wins competition
ARTISTIC Amber McDonald created award-winning artwork of Haslingden after attending a fine art lesson at the town’s library.
Amber, 15, a student at Haslingden High School, said: “I saw the sketching competition mentioned in a leaflet when I was in the library.”
She likes the town and its buildings and so spent an hour creating a sketch before starting on her final drawing.
Amber said she called up Google Street View to get the view she wanted of the town centre and worked hard to get the perspective right.
She added texture to her finished work by using a blue pen and adding lines going in different directions to highlight individual parts of the buildings.
Amber said: “I didn’t expect to win, and I was really happy when I did.”
When she showed her picture it to her Art Teacher at Haslingden High School, Mrs Yates, she told her it was very good.
The Haslingden Sketching Tour Competition was arranged by Rossendale Borough Council as part of the Big Lamp – Shining Light on Haslingden project, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and feeds into the 2040 Vision and Master Plan for Haslingden.
It was part of a project called Museum on the Move that the council worked on with The Whitaker Museum
Amber said: “Art is one of my favourite subjects. I really like chemistry but art is definitely top. I think art is a nice break from the heavier subjects.
“In the future, I want to possibly do something in medicine or architecture.”
Amber won a Hobbycraft art supplies voucher worth £100.
The other entries from Mia, 12, Elsie, 11, Caitlin, 12, and Amber’s sister Ana, 12, each won a £20 Hobbycraft voucher for art supplies.
The winning entry was decided by a public vote.
photo captions:Amber McDonald with her winning entry in the Haslingden Sketching Tour Competition.
Images and copy by Catherine Smyth