Artist-in-the-making, Daisy Watson, 12, proved her creative talent after winning several awards for her work in the past few weeks, one of them being the first place prize at the 20^th Annual Lucille Roybal-Allard Student Art Competition on April 20.

Watson declared her love for the subject ever since she started off as a first grader with a box of crayons.

“I’ve been painting since I was a kid, and I’ve been good at it ever since, so winning this award is like seeing an awesome timeline of my artistic career,” Watson said. “I just hope it doesn’t end here.”

By starting off as a creative illustrator, Watson understands what it is like to be honored by awards. In the past, she has won several awards at her schools. At Downey High School, she has won two Merit Awards and has had six of her pieces featured in the Downey High Art and Photo Show 2013 at Open House. However, she is not one to brag about such honor.

On several occasions, the subject of Watson winning awards has come up in conversation, and friend Carrissa Gama, 12, was there to witness Watson’s modesty.

“She [Watson] really is humble about the whole thing,” Gama said. “After she won the Roybal award, she was very sweet about it and she never bragged or anything like that.”

This modesty was brought on by Watson’s respect for the award as well as her craft. The young artist felt it rude to boast about her work after receiving praise. Though the award is of great significance, she refuses to brag because of the negative effect it would set upon the title of the award. This grace over her acceptance of the award is the result of a girl who grew up loving art.

The young talent is in two different art classes: Drawing 1 and Intermediate Art. Her Intermediate Art teacher, Darrelle Nikaj, often commends her for her work.

“She really is a great artist for her age. She never turns in work that is less than astonishing,” Nikaj said. “It’s [Watson’s work] a good reminder of why I love my job.”

Nikaj was one of many who checked out Watson’s piece before she had submitted it to the competition. Watson has developed a good rapport with the teacher since the start of the year. Nikaj loves her student’s work because of how much thought and meaning has been put into the creation of it. The young artist feels that if she is going to create a piece, there is going to be great meaning behind it.

The artist’s talent has brought her this far and even after all of the success, the student shows no signs of stopping.