Brendan Lough is thankful for two art teachers at Leesville Road High School.
Lough, a senior, wasn't sure two years ago if he was any good at drawing. All he knew was that he wanted to try to illustrate what was in his mind.
As a sophomore, Lough enrolled in Jose Espinal's Art 1 Honors class. Last year, he finished Lin Stevens' Art 2 and 3 Honors classes. While Lough was developing a chalk pastel painting, Stevens made a prediction: If Lough could finish it in time for the state fair, he would win first place.
She was right. Lough finished his piece over the summer and won the Jerry's Artarama outstanding high school student award.
"I was really surprised," said Lough, a right tackle and defensive end on Leesville Road's football team. "It wasn't until my sophomore year that I realized I was pretty good."
In his painting, Lough created a still life of old things he found in Stevens' classroom. The image showed a toaster, a bicycle with training wheels and a teapot. There was a light shining down on the objects that reflected other things in the room.
"I saw it and I was awed by his work," Stevens said. "And this wasn't for a grade. It was a lot of work and I'm sure he spent weeks on it."
Winning the award marks Lough as one of the best young artists in the state. Both Stevens and Espinal say Lough is a special student, who is humble and open to criticism.
"He's definitely grown as a talent," Espinal said. "He's well rounded."
Before long, some of Lough's football teammates noticed his work. After Lough won his award, coach Chad Smothers displayed the certificate on the whiteboard in the locker room.
"I've seen him in the hallway drawing," Smothers said. "He doesn't talk about his art much, though."
Lough discovered he can combine his two passions.
"Football helps me with art and it gives me ideas," he said.
One of those ideas evolved into a drawing Lough created a few weeks into the season.
The drawing featured a road going off into the distance. The road featured speed bumps that had the names of the teams on the Pride's schedule. Some speed bumps were broken, meaning the team had defeated that opponent. The rest were games still to be determined.
At the end of the road was a sign with state champions on it - the Pride's ultimate goal. Leesville's goal was stopped short when they were defeated by Garner Friday night.
"I think they thought it was cool," Lough said of his teammates. "Maybe it got them a little bit excited."
Ron Harris, a senior linebacker, said he was energized by Lough's piece.
"It was a really nice drawing," Harris said.
Lough is not sure what he'll study in college, but he plans to have art be a part of his life.
When Espinal asked Stevens if she had any students to recommend for his Art 4 Honors class in the upcoming semester, Stevens knew exactly who to suggest.
