Wednesday, December 2, 2009


 Youngest successful painter-Kieron Williamson sets world record

 HOLT, Norfolk, UK -- Seven-year-old artist Kieron Williamson has sold his 16 watercolours for £17,000 in just 14 minutes-setting the world record for the Youngest successful painter .

    His latest batch of paintings of Norfolk landscapes, seascapes and churches were supposed to be on display for a month at the Picturecraft gallery in Holt. ( enlarge photo )

   They went on sale at 9am but had all been bought by 9.14am – some by telephone from abroad.

Adrian Hill , who runs the Picturecraft Gallery with his father, Michael, said of Kieron: “He is red hot. I believe the last child artist in this bracket was Picasso. And Kieron is getting better and better and better: the pace at which he learns is quite amazing."
    "He has a very mature hand and has mastered certain techniques at an early stage which some artists would take years to perfect.
    "His work has been phenomenal in the past six months. His use of tone, colour and light is wonderful. The way he gets his paintings to do the talking is incredible.
    "His parents are lovely people and are very grounded. There is no element of pressure on him at all. He just paints when he wants. He still likes kicking a football in the park and playing computer games like any other seven-year-old."

  The sale follows an earlier sealed bid auction of his work in the summer when 19 of his paintings were sold for £14,000.
Adrian Hill : "People are saying that he could become an all-time great. They want his paintings as investments because they think the price will go up."

    Inspired to start painting on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall last year, Kieron Williamson was just six when he asked his parents for paper to draw a boat and swiftly developed a mature and assured talent for seascapes and rural scenes that has been described as close to the "young Picasso".

   Kieron’s father, Keith, a self-employed art dealer, said: “People are saying that he could become an all-time great. Kieron can do a watercolour in an hour, pastels take two hours upwards and oils take longer because of the drying time.”

   Kieron's mother, a 36-year-old nutritional therapist, was stunned to find she had missed the sale completely after turning up at the gallery at 9.15am. "Of course, we are all absolutely thrilled. We are so pleased for Kieron, because obviously other people's opinion about the paintings matters a lot," she said.

    The talented boy, who described his show's sellout success as "brilliant", now plans to buy himself a new set of pastels for Christmas, as well as a work by his artistic hero, the late Norfolk landscape artist Edward Seago. 

   His parents Keith, 44, and Michelle, 36, will invest the rest of his cash for him until he is 25. Kieron only began to paint last year after being inspired to take up the hobby on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall.

   To view the Picturecraft website and see more of Kieron's work, log on to www.picturecraftgallery.com

    Kieron said: “It’s absolutely excellent. I was only expecting one or two to sell. Painting is my favourite hobby – but I like football as well.”