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-MUM ON VIDEO: -Oh, dear! | 0:00:08 | 0:00:09 | |
You can skate more... | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
He's a Leo. He's king of his own castle. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:14 | |
Even from a toddler, he'd arrive at the side of the bed | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
and you would know by what he was wearing, you know, as to what | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
your day was going to be like, because he'd either be | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
in football kit and have a ball tucked under his arm, | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
and you'd then have to get up and get him out for air and exercise, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
or, you know, it would be something else. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
This is three-year-old Kieron Williamson, already determined and | 0:00:35 | 0:00:40 | |
on the verge of becoming a world-famous child prodigy | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
That's brilliant, sweetheart. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
Come have a look at it. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
The dinosaurs are going to love being in there, aren't they? | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
Can I have a look, please? | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
Painting is his life. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
At just six years old, he was thrust into the media spotlight, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
with buyers worldwide prepared to pay thousands for his work. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
At 14, he's already worth around £2 million. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
His success is no accident. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
Behind this talent is an extraordinary family. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
Where's the caviar, Mother? | 0:01:30 | 0:01:31 | |
Don't we normally have champagne? | 0:01:33 | 0:01:34 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
Meet team Williamson, at their home in North Norfolk. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
This is where it all happens. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
I'm Kieron. I'm an artist. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
I play football and I am a proud supporter of Leeds United. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
I'm Billie-Jo. I'm 12 years old and I'm Kieron's sister | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
and I love making jewellery. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
I'm Keith. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:54 | |
Husband to Michelle and father to Kieron and Billie-Jo. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
My main jobs within the company are to get Kieron up and out painting | 0:02:00 | 0:02:05 | |
in the morning and sherpa-ing his stuff around. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
And also to buy and sell artwork. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
I'm Michelle. I'm mum to Kieron and Billie-Jo and I help | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
to run the family business. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:15 | |
14-year-old Kieron is preparing for his biggest event of the year - | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
his annual exhibition at the Picturecraft Gallery | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
in Holt, Norfolk. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:25 | |
In five weeks, he'll be exhibiting new landscape paintings | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
and a brand-new venture, large studio portraits. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
The whole family is involved. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:35 | |
We're such a tight network, aren't we, as a four? | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
When you think that we're all at home pretty much all day, every day, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:45 | |
erm, we get on really well. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
And you have to, because all of our stress comes all at the same time, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:52 | |
for everybody. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
There isn't an anchor during this time, to be honest. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
Michelle and Keith have no business experience. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:02 | |
They've had to learn everything from scratch. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
It was 2010 that was the year it all | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
got stressful for us, because Kieron had reached the VAT threshold, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
so we were forced to put a business structure in place. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
And so we sought legal and financial advice. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
Neither of us particularly wanted to be in a position where we were | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
running a limited company. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:25 | |
We didn't know anything about it. We didn't want to be directors, did we? | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
The whole implications of, you know, | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
was Kieron going to be allowed to be a director? | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
No, he couldn't, because he wasn't legally old enough. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
And who do you get in to run a business like this? | 0:03:38 | 0:03:42 | |
You know, who do you trust? | 0:03:42 | 0:03:43 | |
So, we realised that, you know, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
we would probably be the best guardians for the business | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
and for Kieron. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
It's all year round, really. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:57 | |
I mean, there's Keith getting up at three or four o'clock in the morning | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
to take Kieron on location. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
But pre-exhibition is... | 0:04:03 | 0:04:04 | |
-A busy time. A stressful time. -Yeah, it is a busy, stressful time, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
because there's just so much to remember. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:11 | |
Is this going to be his tenth exhibition with Picturecraft? | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
It is becoming easier. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:17 | |
You know, we feel as if we're growing into it. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:19 | |
Keith and I haven't trained to do this. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:22 | |
It's not our expertise at all, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
so you do feel as if you're... | 0:04:24 | 0:04:25 | |
..swimming upriver. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:28 | |
With Mum and Dad running his financial affairs, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
Kieron is free to paint most days. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
It's early June. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:37 | |
Today, he's on the North Norfolk coast starting a new painting | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
which might feature in his exhibition. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
I reckon it needs to be about here. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
Not a lot further left. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:55 | |
No. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:56 | |
I think it's...cos you want to get this big vessel in on the... | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
That boat, there. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:00 | |
-..cos that's the foreground feature, which could take a figure, couldn't it? -It could, yeah. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
And then the whole thing winding, er, lining through to the church. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:09 | |
It's a classic North Norfolk estuary shot this, isn't it? | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
-I mean, I don't think you could get more classic than that, really. -No. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
Kieron's had no formal training, but artist David Curtis | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
often accompanies him on his painting trips. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
He's become a friend and mentor. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
It's just the buzz of it. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:40 | |
Getting up in the morning and finding inspiration still. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
I don't think I'll ever run out of inspiration. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
You just see things all the time, and you think, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
"That will make a nice picture." | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
And it's the constant inspiration, | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
I think, that keeps me going. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
You do lose yourself in periods of painting. | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
You're so engrossed in the picture and focusing on what you're doing, | 0:05:59 | 0:06:04 | |
making sure everything you're doing is right. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
So I don't, I hardly ever think about where it's going to go or | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
where it's going to sell or anything like that. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
It's sort of all about the moment in time. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
He's chosen Morston Quay on the North Norfolk coast. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
On a grey day... | 0:06:22 | 0:06:23 | |
..it's still nice. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
It's got enough content in it, in the landscape, | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
to make a painting. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
But, equally, it's lovely on a bright, sunny day. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
The light on the mud, it just has everything you want as an artist. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:43 | |
It has the estuary, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
the boats, the sky. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
It's got everything. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
The distinction between the... | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
..the estuary bank and the actual... | 0:06:57 | 0:07:02 | |
-..shaping is very subtle, isn't it? -Mm-hm. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
Some art critics have said that he already paints like an Old Master. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
David, who has had a similar journey from a young painter to a | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
well-respected artist, is well placed to help Kieron | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
through this critical period. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
Kieron's probably one or two of a generation. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
There'll be a few in each generation. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
And there probably are many people who have got the aptitude, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:32 | |
but whether they grasp the nettle and actually do anything about it | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
is another issue. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
Now, he has. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
He's seen the light very early in his years and suddenly realised, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:44 | |
"I can do this and I'm going to develop it." | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
Probably subconsciously. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:47 | |
The mini Monet, the little kid, | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
is now bordering on an adult, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
so he's going to have to mix with his peers, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:59 | |
and so his work won't be seen quite as unique. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
I mean, you could call it the bubble bursting. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
But because he's got all his foundations so well in place, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:11 | |
and his technique is so assured, as he moves forward into adulthood, | 0:08:11 | 0:08:17 | |
his painting will take on a maturity. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
And it won't be big leaps of progress, it'll be steady away and, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
eventually, he'll reach his plateau, where, intellectually, he may change | 0:08:25 | 0:08:32 | |
his ideas, but let's wait and see. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
-Hey. -Nice to meet you. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:38 | |
I'm Thomas from Berlin, hello. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:39 | |
Hello, there, nice to see you. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
Thomas from Berlin. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:42 | |
I must tell you something. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
Last year, in September, I was the first time in Great Britain. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
My son lives in Norwich and I saw the dragons in the forest. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
-Oh, yeah, yeah? -And I said - yours. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
And I said, "Wow!" | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
Thank you. | 0:08:58 | 0:08:59 | |
I cannot believe this! | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
Until now, when I came back... | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
Kieron's been spotted by a tourist from Germany who has seen his work. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
And I wish you good luck and always good hands and wonderful eyes... | 0:09:07 | 0:09:13 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:14 | |
-..to see this art. -Thank you. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
It's better to love what you do. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
Yeah. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
Bye-bye. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:22 | |
Kieron takes all the attention in his stride. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
That's lovely. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:26 | |
When Kieron first hit the headlines, you didn't know when it was | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
ever going to start, stop, finish or anything. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
And when someone phoned up to say, "Can we film with Kieron?", | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
you just used to say yeah, cos you just wanted to get him out | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
on film, cos that's part of his history. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
But we thought it was a one-minute wonder, so... | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
Yeah, so we done everything we asked. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:43 | |
..we'd think we were just saying yes to one project, but... | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
And now, obviously, I mean, we're getting loads of requests, | 0:09:46 | 0:09:48 | |
but 90% of them, we just haven't got the time to do it, anyway. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
It's nice to work with people you know and friendly faces, isn't it? | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
-That's what we like. -Yeah. | 0:09:57 | 0:09:58 | |
But, bizarrely, Samsung have wanted Kieron to stand on top of a mountain | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
in Spain to hold one of their gizmos for an advert. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
GAP clothing wanted him to travel to Los Angeles to model their clothing. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:12 | |
Scientists have wanted to place electrodes on his head | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
when he's been painting, so that they can assess his brain activity | 0:10:15 | 0:10:20 | |
when he's been drawing and painting. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
They've wanted to study him drawing still life... | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
..things to see how he's different from other artists. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:36 | |
Astrologers have been in touch with us, wanting to know the exact time | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
of his birth so that they can work out what the planets | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
were doing at the time. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:43 | |
Erm, just to understand where he gets it from, | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
because, clearly, he doesn't get it from us! | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
-INTERVIEWER: Did you say, yes to any of that? -No, we didn't. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
-No, we didn't. -But, Samsung and that, that's really nice of them | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
and, like, I think it was Nintendo and that, just to consider him... | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
I mean, because, at the end of the day there's thousands of people | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
out there who they could choose. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
Oh, yeah, that end bit is quite misty, isn't it? | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
After I've finished one picture or while I'm painting a picture, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
there'll be something else I'll see, and I'll want to paint that. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
The inspiration and the drive of getting better, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
and hopefully improving my work. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
Yeah. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:35 | |
Yeah, sounds like it. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:45 | |
In less than four hours, Kieron's finished. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
You happy with it? | 0:11:50 | 0:11:51 | |
The image? Yeah, yeah. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
Yeah, not bad. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:54 | |
The next step will probably be sort of taking it home to the studio, | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
tidying up a couple of areas, | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
and including a figure. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:03 | |
And then I'll probably do... | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
Scale it up, so, do it on a bigger one, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
and either store it upstairs or | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
it'll be included in the next exhibition. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
To date, the top price paid for one of his landscapes is £55,000. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
So, tell me what you then finding out about the Celts, then. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
Erm, well, sort of, the Celtic calendar months and | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
-their names and the meanings. -OK. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
Kieron is home-schooled with his sister, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
a decision the family didn't take lightly. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
I think it's a difficult decision for any parent to make, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:48 | |
what options their child is going to have for high school. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
And we did go through all our options available to us at the time. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
I think having seen how Kieron and Billie-Jo have both flourished | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
as a result of that freedom and that process, | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
we feel that, even now, it's the still right decision to have made. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:07 | |
The information... | 0:13:07 | 0:13:08 | |
They're taught by his retired primary school teacher, Beryl Knowles. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
He used to get up at some unearthly hour of the morning and do lots of | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
painting, and then not exactly be dragged, kicking and screaming, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
to school, but he would come with some reluctance, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
I think it's fair to say. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:25 | |
Whereas, now, if that's what he wants to do... | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
I mean, he told me the other morning he'd been up really early | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
to paint the fog... | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
OK. Erm, well, that's fine, go and paint the fog, | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
cos that's when it's there, and when you come home and have your | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
breakfast and a shower, you might feel a doing a bit of schoolwork. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
That wouldn't happen if he had to go to school. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
The family home is full of art. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
Everywhere you turn, there is a Seago or a Walter Langley. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
I like how he's painted, you know, like, the pillow, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
and got light and shade on the pillow, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
and how well he's painted the hands. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:02 | |
They say you can tell how good the painter is | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
by how well he's painted the hands. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
You can tell there how good he was. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
I think painting's in my blood, whether I like it or not. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
I don't think I'll ever stop painting. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
It's just like my best friend. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
These are great artists who inspire Kieron to be even better. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
All he can see is the Newlyn School, your Edward Seagos | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
and your Mannings, | 0:14:32 | 0:14:34 | |
and he wants to get to where they were - or above where they were. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
That's his driven factor. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
I mean, I just hope he continues, really, to do what he wants to do. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
Yeah. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:45 | |
I'd still like him to be a footballer. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
-No, you wouldn't. -I would! | 0:14:50 | 0:14:51 | |
I'd like him to play for Leeds United and hold that Premiership Cup | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
as captain - that would do me. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
As he leaves childhood behind, his work is changing. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
He's beginning to experiment more with figurative paintings. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
I'm just drawing it out at the moment, | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
erm, just to give me an idea of the composition, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:26 | |
and then I'll start to paint it. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
-MUM: -Hello! | 0:16:07 | 0:16:08 | |
-CURATOR: -Hello, how are you? | 0:16:08 | 0:16:09 | |
-All right. How are you? -Nice to see you. -Nice to see you. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
-Hello, young man. How are you? -It's that time of year again, isn't it? | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
It is indeed. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
In the last year, Kieron has produced just under 100 paintings. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
Oils, pastels, two watercolours. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
Whittling them down to just over 40 pieces for the exhibition | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
can be difficult. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
So the family take advice from Adrian Hill, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
who runs the gallery where Kieron's work will be sold. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
25 paintings will also be available to buy from a mailing list | 0:16:35 | 0:16:39 | |
three weeks before the exhibition opens. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
The online sale came about from very hectic opening days, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:49 | |
where, literally, I had people travelling from all over the world | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
and camping in the car park, | 0:16:53 | 0:16:54 | |
you know, on the weeks leading up to the exhibition. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
And, you know, we opened the doors and it was literally, you know, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:01 | |
it was almost like the first-day of a Harrods sale. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
There was sort of a...not quite fights breaking out, | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
but it wasn't far off. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
So, we had to manage that process, | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
and also we had to find a way of selling paintings fairly. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
These are the ones that will go out to the mailing list, all right? | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
So, again, there's a nice portfolio of your work, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
four different sizes as well, so you have four different price points. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
You've got an element of Cornwall there, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:38 | |
lovely painting of Norfolk, too, and then Suffolk, as well. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
So, that's absolutely super. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
Typically, the smaller paintings sell for £2,000. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
Larger pieces, around £30,000. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
-Are they shells that you got from holiday? -Yep. | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
Picked up at the beach? | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
Yeah, the weird thing is they were white pearls, and then put them | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
all in on the angelina fibre and they turned that colour. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
When she's not helping out with preparations for the exhibition, | 0:18:06 | 0:18:10 | |
sister Billie-Jo is working on her own commercial project, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
making jewellery. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:15 | |
When we come over here for the exhibition, | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
I tend to like spend my time in Lucy's shop and like, | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
we just bounce off ideas and dip in and out of here and Picturecraft. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:25 | |
So, I'll help package Kieron's cards, then come over here again. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
I don't really get jealous, because I get just as much attention | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
and I just, like, enjoy what I'm doing and I just think his, like, | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
thing that he does is, like, amazing. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
So, yeah, I'm not jealous at all, no. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
Everyone's agreed on the final selection of paintings. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
But, so far, Kieron's commercial success has hinged on him | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
being a child artist. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
I think probably going forward, you know, commercially, for Kieron, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
you know, changing from a child to an adult is probably only comparable | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
to that of the great Pablo Picasso, because he was only nine years old | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
when he had his first exhibition, | 0:19:04 | 0:19:06 | |
and we all know what an incredibly successful career that he forged. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
And I think, commercially, Kieron will probably find that, you know, | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
as an adult, he will maybe continue, continue to paint. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
I mean, who knows, who knows of the future? | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
But I think he'll probably evolve his style somewhat and I think | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
he will probably take his collectors along, you know, with him. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:25 | |
So far, Kieron's not had to think about the commercial side. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
Keith and Michelle act as his agent, manage his money, | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
which is held in trust, | 0:19:33 | 0:19:34 | |
and even help choose the paintings for the exhibition. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
Mum and Dad have been really good for taking that pressure off me, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
saying what you've got is what will go in. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
We always get one or two popular ones every year. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
But, I don't feel that I have to paint, you know, | 0:19:50 | 0:19:56 | |
seven or eight of them cos that's what'll sell, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
cos I don't sort of sell my soul. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
I paint what sort of fires me up, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
and there'll be certain scenes that I will paint two or three times. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
Just cos I love painting them. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:09 | |
But I never...if my heart isn't in it, I don't do it. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:14 | |
I think you're driven because it's something that you're interested in, | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
but it's the other commercial side that we don't feel comfortable with, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
because we're a naturally private family and, you know, | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
the being in front of the cameras doesn't...you know, it's not | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
comfortable, it doesn't come easy necessarily, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
but it's something that, you know, has... It's part of the package. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:35 | |
And Kieron's happy to do it, isn't he? We're getting used to it. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
Well, you seem happy in front of the camera, don't you, though? | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
Can't get her off. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
Cut! | 0:20:42 | 0:20:43 | |
It's Thursday, the 9th of June. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
The day the online sale begins. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
In a few minutes, 11,500 people on their mailing lists | 0:20:51 | 0:20:56 | |
will be the first to see Kieron's 2016 works. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
It's unique, because most buyers prefer to view a painting in person. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
Kieron's popularity means his fans will buy online. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
On that particular e-mail is all of the prices, | 0:21:11 | 0:21:16 | |
images that are available for sale. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
If I look here, we've had somebody open one in Armenia. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
There, we've got Germany and France and Spain, Switzerland. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
Obviously, in the UK as well, cos we're, you know, | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
we've got most of Kieron's clients, you know, are still UK-based, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
but we've got them being opened in the States, | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
in a number of different states. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:38 | |
North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania... | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
In Dallas, Oklahoma, so, er... | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
South Africa has just had one opened. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:49 | |
Australia. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:51 | |
So, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
While Adrian manages the online sale, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
team Williamson are busy finishing the framing. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
He didn't sign that. Did you want him to sign it? | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
Kieron! | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
-Yeah? -You need to sign it, please. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:10 | |
It needs signing, mate. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
OK. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:15 | |
Do you want to do it in here or...? | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
-Yeah, I'll just go and get my stuff. -All right. -All right. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:19 | |
I think we decided to do most of the framing ourselves, didn't we? | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
To minimise the risk of accidents happening. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:31 | |
If it happens in-house, we then haven't got to worry about insurance | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
and accident reports and blame and stuff. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
-And also... -We like to see them framed up, don't we? | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
Yeah, it's our way of... | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
..detaching from it and making sure that it gets sent out | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
in the best possible condition. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
We know that the framers will do a good job, but we would worry more | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
if the pictures were off-site than we would knowing that they're all | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
here and, erm... | 0:22:56 | 0:22:57 | |
-Yeah, it's our way of saying goodbye, isn't it? -Mm. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
We have had to learn how to do it from scratch. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
It's not something that we knew how to do. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
But, thankfully, Michael Hill at the framer's... | 0:23:06 | 0:23:10 | |
-Erm, well, he gave you some sessions didn't he? -Yeah. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
When Kieron first sold his paintings, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
there were several that were unsigned, so we had to strip them | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
back out and he came gave me a crash-course on how to frame. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
And then, if we ever get stuck, we just phone him up and | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
he's there with his wisdom of knowledge. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
There we are. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:34 | |
-Is it the right way up? -Yup. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:35 | |
-Yay! -Finished job. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:36 | |
It's the day before the exhibition opens. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
Online sales are going well, with some buyers purchasing a | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
Kieron Williamson painting as an investment. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
But he also has a hard-core following of loyal fans, | 0:23:51 | 0:23:55 | |
like Kimberley Walker, who treasure their painting. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
At his first exhibition, people were phoning up for specific paintings | 0:24:00 | 0:24:05 | |
which weren't available and then asking to have any of the paintings, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
regardless of which ones they were. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
So, I think maybe those people are buying the paintings as some sort of | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
investment for the future, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:17 | |
and so they've got a different approach to doing that. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
I, personally, would want to choose a painting because I love it, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:24 | |
but everyone's different and they've different reasons for buying them. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
From the family point of view, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:29 | |
it's a lovely keepsake to pass through the family. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
Kieron is no longer a child, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
but, so far, the interest in him shows no sign of stopping. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
Today, a French TV company has come to film him. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:43 | |
In France, we have a lot, a lot, a lot of artists. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
That's a country of artists, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
but we don't have our Kieron. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
We don't have a prodigy like him, | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
so that's why it was really important to witness | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
and to show him to France. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
Kieron will stay in the memories, I think. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
Maybe we'll see him in history books, because it's so... | 0:25:06 | 0:25:12 | |
You don't see that everyday. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
You know, this talent, at this age? | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
It's the first day of the tenth exhibition. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
Today, buyers will decide what they are willing to pay | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
for Kieron's work. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:27 | |
-Hello! -Come on in, come on in. -Thank you very much. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
-Pretty excited. -Yes, yes. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
-DAD: -Good morning. -Good morning. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
Before they open, I'm sort of really excited. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
Especially the night before, it's just... | 0:25:40 | 0:25:43 | |
Excited and can't wait to get here. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
And then, sort of, as we get here, the nerves will start to kick in | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
and, sort of, worried, yeah. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
Worried that, sort of, the public reaction won't be very good. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
But I think that's sort of normal, | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
just because, this year, especially with sort of doing more portraiture | 0:25:57 | 0:26:02 | |
and people, not sure how that... | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
How well that'll be received. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
It's the first year I've ever seen Kieron excited | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
to come to his own exhibition. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:12 | |
You know, I think he's waiting for the feedback on his portraiture | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
and he's worked really hard in the studio and, you know, a year's work, | 0:26:16 | 0:26:21 | |
or longer than a year really, some of it, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
and he's just really buzzing today. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
Me and Dad sort of say sometimes, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
"God, I wonder what I'd be doing now, or we'd be doing now | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
"if I hadn't sort of found painting." | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
It's pretty hard to imagine life without it. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:38 | |
I'm sort of really, really happy that it has happened, you know. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
Yeah, I can't imagine myself without painting anymore. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
Michelle and Keith are already planning for the next stage | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
in Kieron's career. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:59 | |
Next year, they're releasing a new book, | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
charting his work and influences. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
When Kieron's reaches 18, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:06 | |
he will take financial control of his own business, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:08 | |
with his parents carrying on as directors. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
But, for now, his focus is painting. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
I never, sort of, think what I would do with the money. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
I'm, sort of, more happy to just get back into my studio | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
and get cracking down painting. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
Sort of working towards the exhibition next year. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
We always thought, with an exhibition, this is definitely, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
this'll be the last one, cos he's got to bound to give it up. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
Because he was a young boy growing up... | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
I mean, Kieron changed his mind so many times with toys, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
with everything really. He's always had this fad for so many weeks, | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
then he moves on. So, you...every exhibition we've done we thought, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
"This'll be the last one. Let's really make, make it a nice one." | 0:27:50 | 0:27:54 | |
-And, he's just continued. -He's proved us wrong, hasn't he? | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
Yeah, he has proved us wrong. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:58 | |
I think I'll always carry on painting for the love of it, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
cos I know, in myself, that I've got the drive to carry on painting. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:22 | |
So, it might've been difficult for Mum and Dad. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
They might not know if I'll carry on painting, but I know, | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
in myself, I will carry on painting. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 |