Local teen sells paintings for college funds
By Shara JJ Cooper
While many students don’t start thinking about their college plans until they are well into their high school years, Grand Forks’ Grace Rolston (13) not only has plans, she’s already getting her finances in order.
Rolston, a John A. Hutton Elementary student, has been painting as long as she can remember, but her mother (an artist) started teaching her at five. Earlier this month she began selling her paintings on a local Facebook sales group with the help of her mom. Every listing says the funds she makes will go to her education. The paintings frequently feature silhouettes done on canvas with acrylic paint and are sold on the local “buy and sell” group and her personal page Grace’s Art Studio.
So far, Rolston has sold three paintings for $25 each almost as soon as they were listed.
The silhouettes, which Rolston calls her signature, make up a lot of her portfolio but she uses other mediums.
“I love to paint with acrylics on canvas or on wood, but I also love to paint with watercolours and sometimes I like to mix the two together,” she said. “I decide what to paint depending on my mood and I like to paint things that I am passionate about.”
Each painting takes three to five hours and she advances her skills through practice, finding inspiration online and studying from artists like Bob Ross.
Her portfolio is not limited to painting, but includes a variety of pieces.
“I love doing all kinds of art such as optical illusion art, animation drawings and mandala art,” said Rolston. “I also love to sketch. Once I sketched a tattoo of mountains for someone to have done. That was fun!”
Like most young teens, Rolston’s future is not set in stone but she does hope her post-secondary career includes art.
“I am interested in a few different Universities such as Emily Carr, UBC and StFX (St. Francis Xavier University),” she said. “They have wonderful summer courses at Emily Carr for 16 to 18 year olds that I would like to one day attend. I am thinking that I might like to become a Graphics Art Technician because I love to sketch logos and other fun stuff.”
Anyone interested supporting Rolston can find her via her Facebook page or purchase her paintings at the Crowsnest Keep.
