British Airways is looking for British talent

If I won I would use this opportunity to produce tons of sketches and paintings of the urban life in New York or any busy city in America. I love the urban life in London but I have never ventured outside the UK to produce similar work of another busy city. I have never been to America but I have heard that the closest feeling of urban life to London with all its busy rush hours, high rise buildings and traffic jams and people on subways like the Grand central, I just feel I'll be able to take my British experience over there and when I come back get a book published of me sketching and painting in those urban cities and also an exhibition of the sketchpads and paintings for the public to see. With this experience a whole new world of exposure could open for me on the international scene and I'm willing to give it a go!

It has always been my desire to be a successful artist. Ever since I was 6 I picked up a pencil and I have never stopped drawing since them. But 3 losses occurred in my life when I was 16, 17 and 18- I lost my elder brother, dad and mum in each of those years. I thought my life would come to a stand still but fortunately I had an aunt who adopted me and helped me get my life back on track. I went to college in Nigeria and finished as the best art student in 1997 from Yaba College of Technology. But Because I was born here in the UK, I came back here in 1999 to further my studies. But I didn't have the financial support to start immediately after being discouraged for 4 years I tried the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea, it is a private Art School in London and teaches drawing and painting from life. I enrolled for a 2 year diploma in Portraiture and finished in 2005 as the student with the most outstanding body of work. I never had the money for my school fees which was £9,450 and up till today I don't know who miraculously paid it for me. The College made it Anonymous.

Ever since then I have always wanted to practice full time as an artist which I am doing now but it is not easy as I have to go through a lot of ups and downs, getting and not getting commissions, rejections from galleries, like what just happened to me today and it is frustrating. I know I have got the drive and ability but I need a little bit of exposure and I know it would go a long way. I had to quit my job as a worker with the homeless, something I did for 8 years just last year to face my art full time and in these credit crunch times it hasn't been easy but I am not giving up because I have come this far and it is too late to give up, I'll keep trying! This dream lives on!