WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — We brought you the story of a local artist who had beaten out every artist in the state, in order to represent Texas and Wichita Falls, in the National Art Battle Championship.

Jesse Baggett competed in the national championship in Daytona, Florida this Saturday, April 2, and brought home the title of Art Battle National Champion! What happens next is Baggett will be competing in the international competition in 2024. There’s still no set location yet but Baggett said no matter where it’s held, she’s just excited to be going this far into the competition.

Winning art battle competitions has become second nature to her, and just the same for painting.

“I chose to do a rabbit on top of a flamingo. I usually do Texas animals but since we were in Florida I took the opportunity to do a different animal,” Baggett said.

It was that choice that led her to take home the title of national champion. She said it didn’t come easy.

“I start out putting my animals together and see what I might want to do and then I do a sketch of that and then I do different color kind of things to see what colors will work. And then, I have paintings and I pretty much paint these over and over and over until I feel comfortable with them,” Baggett said.

Although Baggett won, she said one thing that will stick with her the most is the people she’s met along the way.

“There are different artists from all over the nation and so different personalities and different types of art and then they all come together and they’re in one room to paint together. And of course, we got to spend some time getting to know each other but that part, that’s probably my favorite part is getting to know the other artists. There’s a sweet camaraderie between us,” Baggett said.

Now that Baggett is moving on, she’ll be meeting brand new artists, not from the U.S., but from all over the world.

If you would like to watch the full competition that Baggett won, click here.