After spending long days as a child drawing at hundreds of different restaurants, junior Charlotte Passot discovered her passion for visual art. “I would have to sit for three hours at my parents restaurants, so they always had me bring coloring supplies,” said Passot. “That’s how my talent started.”

Passot is most proud of her ability to draw people rather than objects.

“Most people are usually the opposite and have an easier time drawing objects than people,” Passot said. She either sketches from a photograph or from a cartoon, but usually nothing in between. “I always doodle cartoon faces on weird surfaces like my hands or on homework,” she said.

When it comes to medium, most often Passot draws with pencils. “I am usually too lazy to do anything in color, so I usually use pencil,” she said.

If she were to improve in one medium, it would be watercolor. “Watercolor is really difficult because you have to work from lights to darks, and it takes a lot of patience waiting for certain layers to dry,” said Passot.

From all of her experience, Passot’s work has greatly improved since

her days in the restaurants. “She has become more detailed in her art and much more confident with it,” said Passot’s mother, Jamie Passot. “I am proud of her for never giving up on something she has started.”

Passot agrees. “I am a perfectionist, and I’m always looking to get better,” she said.

Passot’s style continues to evolve. “She is developing more of a personal voice, and her subject matter and human expression is sophisticated for her age level,” said Lynne Klein, Tam’s drawing and painting teacher.

Check out more of Charlotte Passot’s art on her Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/56793227@N08/

Written by Ivy Pannepacker. This article originally appeared in the June 2011 issue.