11-year-old Samara finds joy through art

Samara Ragoobarsingh is painting her way to happiness.

The standard five student of Chaguanas Government Primary School just wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) and hopes to pass for her first choice – Holy Faith Convent in Couva.

The 11-year-old artist, who lives in Charlieville, does not limit herself to just one medium. She paints predominantly with watercolors, draws with pencil and even creates skits and videos starring her siblings. She hopes to eventually create more art using different mediums.

She is the second eldest of her parents' five children.

Samara started drawing when she was four and continues to develop her artistic capabilities.

"Even though I was not very good when I started I still continued to do my art to get my skills better."

When it comes to her inspiration she said, "I get it from my mom who is also an artist. When I was little I would look at two pieces by my mom and I'd say 'I want to do that too!'"

Asked what type of art she likes to make, she said, "I do abstract, realism and sceneries. I'm not very good with people yet so I watch tutorials on YouTube. But I can draw cartoons."

Her favourite pieces to draw and paint are religious ones.

"I never really liked to do art that wasn't of God. That's why I don't really like to do still life things and I prefer more nature and religious things."

Samara is a Roman Catholic and attends St Phillip and St James RC Church.

When it comes to school, she likes art and English the most but finds mathematics to be a little tricky at times.

Asked how felt about sitting SEA, she said, "It wasn't very difficult but it wasn't too easy either."

She said when she enters her new school in September she is looking forward to making new friends.

Over the past two years, Samara had to shift her main focus from art to school with the added stress of the pandemic and online learning.

"The pandemic itself didn't affect my art, if anything that gave me more time to work on my art. But I wasn't creating as often as I was really busy in standard four and five getting ready for SEA. Now that it's over I have more time for my art."

When she isn't focussing on her art or school she gets her siblings involved with skits she produces and video records. After recording the videos, she edits them herself and then shares them with her family.

Asked what she wants to be when she gets older she said, "I want to be an artist, or a designer or maybe an interior designer."