Get to know Anjali Chandrashekar.

"I am a 9 year old bubbly girl from South India."

I began to draw and paint very early. Colors have always fascinated me and I love nature because of its vibrant colors. I think that nature is flawless and am inspired by it. I use a wide variety of mediums to express art, and especially enjoy working with water colors, poster colors, clay, oil pastes, shading pencils, acrylic paints, charcoal, color pencils, puff-on paints, thermocole, origami and different kinds of craft materials. I also love to do soft toys, mosaic work and glass painting.

I recycle discarded materials and convert them into "wealth from waste" articles. I especially enjoy doing art with natural materials rather than synthetic materials.

India is a beautiful land of vivid colours, textures and cultures. Every state has its own specialty. I am trying to learn some of the dying art forms because we should try to keep these art forms alive.

I have won a number of competitions at various levels but the once I cherish most was winning a Color Television for drawing a mascot for Marry Brown, a burger joint. I won a cycle and a crystal trophy the next year.

My painting for ICAF's "Me in the New Millennium" competition depicts a dove--the bird of peace--and the father of our nation Mahatma Ghandhi, who has always preached honesty and non-violence.

I sketch anything that catches my eye. Almost half my class gets their biology drawings done by me. I enjoy helping my classmates. I try to teach them to draw step by step so that it makes it easy. We do group projects in school, which unites the whole class and brings forth lot of ideas, cheer and unity.

I take great pride in having painted the backdrops for my school day celebrations. I also paint greeting cards and give them to various organizations for raising funds for different noble causes. I also work along with mentally and physically challenged children. This has taught me to appreciate all the small things in life. I am thankful to be a normal healthy child.

I dream of traveling around the globe visiting art galleries and museums. My ambition in life is to study well and become an ARTIST who can bring cheerful colors into the lives of people. Using art as my tools I will try to canvas for PEACE and UNITY.