A talented young artist is celebrating after her incredible artwork was endorsed by Hollywood royalty.
Year 9 student Salena Khabra sketched a pencil portrait of American actor Justin Cornwell, star of her favourite show The Umbrella Academy, during her own time in lockdown.
And within less than a minute of it being uploaded to her personal Instagram account - salena_sketches - the actor himself had personally ‘liked’ it.
Just minutes later her post was also liked and reposted by screenwriter and film director Jeff King - the American superhero show’s producer.
Salena said she was “in shock” when she saw that Justin Cornwell himself had liked her work.
“I kept looking at it and I was jumping around like crazy,” she added.
“Then even better, 30 minutes later the same post was liked and reposted by Jeff King who is the producer for Umbrella Academy, so you can imagine just how excited I felt.
“It actually made me cry.
“I just could not believe the producer of my favourite series would recognise my work. It made me feel so proud and ecstatic.”
Salena is keen to pursue a career in art in the future and is preparing to enter her stunning artwork into the Young Artists’ Summer Show, run by the Royal Academy of Art.
Now in its third year, the show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged five - 19 studying in the UK and British schools overseas. Artwork is judged by artists and art professional, with a selection chosen to be displayed online and on site at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Talented Salena said she was still in the process of deciding which of her sketches she will submit.
Teacher Mrs D Smith said: “Salena did the pencil portrait in her own time, and was extremely excited that it was liked not only by the actor but also by the show’s producer too.
“Salena has made exceptional progress with her artwork over the year. She has chosen fine art as a subject and now has a real passion for Art.
“I predict she could achieve a high grade at GCSE through her efforts as she is developing a wealth of work at an extremely high standard."
A selection of Salena’s class artwork can be seen below - most of which was created during remote working lessons during lockdown.
