- Kieron Williamson, 10, has seen his lifetime earnings soar to nearly £1.5m
- The talented artist sold 23 of his paintings for a total of £242,095 last Friday
- Another sale will be held this Friday – with his artwork likely to sell in minutes
A 10-year-old art genius is set to see his lifetime earnings soar to nearly £1.5million after selling his latest collection of paintings for more than £240,000.
Schoolboy Kieron Williamson, who is nicknamed Mini Monet because of his incredible brush skills, saw 23 of his artworks snapped up in just 20 minutes for a total of £242,095 last Friday.
The paintings sold for between £2,450 for a small watercolour to £30,000 for a winter snow scene near his home in Trunch near North Walsham, Norfolk.
The sale of another dozen of his most recent oil paintings and watercolours will take place this Friday when his new exhibition opens at the Picturecraft gallery in Holt, Norfolk.
The paintings which are priced at a total of around £100,000 are also expected to be sold within a few minutes.
Kieron’s parents Keith, 46, and Michelle, 40, believe that the continuing popularity of his artwork will soon push his earnings so far to nearly £1.5million.
The money is being invested on behalf of Kieron until he is aged 18, but he has already bought a new £150,000 house in the Norfolk Broads village of Ludham.
He is now busy overseeing the conversion of it into his own art gallery which will sell paintings by classic artists including East Anglia’s Edmund Seago and Alfred Munnings.
Kieron who has a sister Billie-Jo, nine, began to paint landscapes at the age of five on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall in 2008.
His previous artistic talents were limited to colouring in dinosaurs which his parents had drawn for him.Mr Williamson, who plans to work in his son’s gallery when it opens in September, said: ‘Everyone in the art world reckons that his work has gone up a load of notches in the last year.
‘Some of the bits and pieces he has done lately are just phenomenal. We don’t put any pressure on him. He just paints when he wants to.
‘There might be two or three months when he paints all the time, then for a few weeks he will just do sketches.
‘He is just a normal boy who loves football. Apart from being a great artist, he is also very strong for his age and athletic.’
Most of his paintings are of landscapes around Norfolk where he has lived all his life and Cornwall which is his favourite holiday spot.
His latest buyers have come from across the UK and Europe and as far away as the United States, Japan and Canada.
All the paintings which were sold last week will be exhibited at the Picturecraft gallery, along with the others which will be up for sale.
Kieron’s earnings are all being channelled through his own company Kieron Williamson Limited which has his parents as directors
Mr Williamson said: ‘This exhibition should take his earnings from when he started to close to £1.5million.
‘He pays VAT like any other business and he has just had a massive tax bill. The house at Ludham is his and he wants to live there on his own one day.
‘He is not really motivated by the money side of things. He just wants to do paintings that people will like.’
Kieron will be leaving Ludham Primary School this week and will be home-tutored from next year so he can concentrate on painting.
Adrian Hill, the managing director of the Picturecraft gallery, said: ‘Kieron’s paintings continue to be overwhelming and quite incredible.
‘I have seen him evolve and there has been a measured improvement in his work over the last year.
‘He now seems to have elevated himself to another level. There is more confidence in his brush strokes
‘The recognition from art critics and fine artists is absolutely remarkable. A senior figure from the Royal Institute of Oil Painters who met him described him as the future of oil painting in the UK.
‘People just cannot believe that he is producing work like he does and he is still only ten-years-old.’
Kieron’s work first came on the market in 2009 when 19 of his paintings were sold for £14,000 in a sealed bid auction.
Three months later another 16 of his paintings were up snapped for £17,000 in just 14 minutes in his second exhibition at the Picturecraft gallery.
An exhibition of 33 of his oils, watercolours and pastels sold out within half an hour for £150,000 in July 2010 with buyers flying in from Arizona, New York and South Africa.
Some fans camped outside the gallery for up to 48 hours to make sure they did not miss out on one of his paintings while others telephoned in bids from Tokyo, Canada and Germany.
Kieron made £106,260 in November 2011 when another exhibition of a dozen paintings sold out in just ten minutes and 50 seconds.
His earnings rocketed by another £250,000 last July with the sale of 24 paintings.
Mrs Williamson has now written a book detailing her son’s astonishing career, called ‘Kieron Williamson Coming to Light – The Remarkable Story of a Child’s Gift to Painting’.
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