Spotlight on the Arts: Mikaela Carbis

It was delightful to interview Mikaela Carbis, an 11-year-old fifth grader at Plains Elementary School. Her classroom teacher is Mrs. Cristina Winebrenner.

Mikaela’s artwork stands out as meticulous, with careful attention to details and color. She has been interested in art since she was in second grade. 

The famous artist Vincent Van Gogh, and especially his painting Starry Night, inspired Mikaela in her artwork. In fourth grade her class drew a scene inside a keyhole shape and Mikaela’s was a take off of Starry Night done with colored pencils.

Recently Mikaela has been concentrating on drawing realistic human eyes. For most of her sketches she uses lead pencils, but her art teacher, Mrs. Cole, has exposed her to other mediums.

With her peers Mikaela has a reputation as being a good artist. Mrs. Winebrenner said that while doing group projects Mikaela is usually the student selected to do the artwork or draw the poster. 

There is another good artist in the class who draws cartoon-like characters that Mikaela relates to. 

Mikaela’s class is currently painting rocks that will be part of the “Rock Garden” on the school playground. She showed me the three rocks she had painted. All were of characters from a video game and painted in pastel shades. Mikaela said that her favorite colors are light purple and lavender. Her work is very detailed and superbly done.

When I asked Mikaela how she will continue her art in the future, she said that she will definitely keep on drawing as a hobby. With summer vacation right around the corner, I am sure Mikaela be sketching away. Besides excelling in art, Mikaela is playing soccer and has a tournament coming up soon. Best wishes to Mikaela in all of her pursuits.