Laying a colorful striped blanket on the moist grass, Delaney Logue (12) sets her clear box of art supplies and her black headphones down before sitting down. She clicks the triangle-shaped icon on her phone and mellow music begins to block out the sound of the passing wind. With a small rectangular canvas resting on a wooden easel in front of her, she begins to blend different colors together on the palette that she is holding in her hands. Slowly, Delaney applies the paint onto the blank surface, one gentle stroke at a time. 

Despite her calm exterior, Delaney’s outgoing personality is seen through her actions, whether it be through her interactions with peers and teachers or a funky item that she chooses to include in her outfits. 

“I like to challenge myself to [wear one fun thing] because, for a really long time, I was too scared to wear something too out of the box so I’m trying to challenge myself to take it out of my comfort zone,” Delaney said.  

Her advisor, Dr. Mala Raghavan, notes the growth in Delaney’s confidence and her ability to show her awareness of others through small gestures.

“Her strength is that she is very considerate, kind. She’s the only one that every time she sees me, she will greet me,” Dr. Raghavan said. “She gets stressed out, but I like the fact that she is always smiling, will always greet you, always there and has a good sense of humor.” 

Anvi Banga (12), one of Delaney’s close friends, admires her ability to channel her careful listening into the relationships that she maintains. 

“Whenever I’m feeling down, I don’t even need to say anything,” Anvi said. “She realizes it right away and does her best to cheer me up, which more often than not works.”

Another close friend, Smriti Vaidyanathan (12), values Delaney’s ability to connect with others, her honesty, and her perseverance. 

“She’s very good at telling people things the way that they are. She’s very honest,” Smriti said. “She has a sort of confidence in her abilities and that motivates her to keep going. When she has a goal, she will keep going at it until it’s done.” 

While Delaney emphasizes the well-being of those she cares about, she also puts thought into growing as an artist and plans to pursue graphic design professionally in the future. 

“I’ve been very creatively focused for my entire life. It’s always been what I wanted to do with my life so originally, it was just drawing and painting for me,” Delaney said. “In the TALON yearbook, I was introduced to a professional environment which really channeled the creative energy that I had focused on for so long so it helped me get into photography.” 

Fellow member on the TALON Yearbook staff, Anoushka Buch (11), has seen Delaney’s development in terms of art over the past few years and says that calling Delaney an artist “would be an understatement”. 

“She’s constantly drawing, whether it’s designing a spread for yearbook or doodling her notes in her notebook during class,” Anoushka said. “Lately, she started bullet journaling, and I think that her journaling, which ranges from simple drawings to beautifully-decorated layouts of her schedule and to-do’s, is good reflection of her artistic side: art isn’t something she does on the side or as a hobby, it’s integrated fully into every part of her life.”

Along with art, music plays a significant role in Delaney’s life as it gives her a way to connect with her father. When she was younger, he introduced her to the old rock music that she now not only listens to but also incorporates into her artwork. 

“My taste is kind of all over the place; there’s not a specific genre that I like. It’s just really soothing and a lot of my art actually ties into music,” Delaney said. “The designers that I really look up to are often album cover designers like Storm Thorgerson or Peter Blake so it’s had a big influence on all parts of me.”

Her inspiration for her art often comes from the album covers of the song she listens to due to the dimensionality that the extra graphic element adds to the experience. However, most of the work she does reflects her emotions as all her focus turns to the visual elements that she is using while painting or drawing.  

“When I’m feeling some type of way…art is really a distraction…especially when you’re sketching something and trying to be meticulous about it and really focused on achieving a specific goal,” Delaney said. “You really have to give it most of your attention which is nice because when I’m in class, I have a lot on my mind and it’s nice to almost be forced to focus on one thing and just take it easy.”