Portrait of a young artist: 3-year-old's work on show at La Romaine galleria

At age three, most toddlers are still working on figuring out what they like from what they don't. But Bradley Sampson has already done that and quite a bit more with the help of his mother Keisha Padilla, and her love for art.

Bradley has proven that age is just a number with his artistic skills and recent feature in an art exhibition that ended last Sunday.

He was able to show off his work thanks to Art by Creative Design and Arnim's Art Galleria, La Romaine.

Bradley did a 16x24-inch abstract painting for the gallery. He used varying shades of green, blue, yellow and many other colours with no limit on the design.

He layered the colours wherever he felt to until he was pleased with his work. That piece was worth over $1,000 at the art exhibition.

His mother said the painting took him between three and four days to finish. She said at times he'd get frustrated and wasn't sure if to continue painting or take a break.

But in the end, it all worked out and he was listed as the youngest person to have a piece at the gallery.

When Newsday Kids visited Bradley at his Palo Seco home on Friday, he was excited to wake up from his nap and show us his skills.

He sat at his workstation where he began painting pink flowers using a Lego block on a green-painted canvas he did earlier. In no time, his arms were covered in pink paint in the shape of the flower.

While doing that, Padilla told us more about Bradley and said that his love for art began when he was a few months old.

“Let's say around eight months, I had him on my lap while doing a drawing and he just picked up a pencil. I found that amazing, his motor skills, to actually pick up something so small for his age."

She said after that she wanted to see what he would be able to do next and decided to give him a drawing book. She said he mostly scribbled and scratched, but after turning one, she introduced him to paints.

“When he was about a year or a little over a year old, I gave him a canvas and paint and that was it.”

Padilla said the first painting he did was an abstract piece. It was done using tape and different coloured paints.

She said for that piece, she used tape to create a pattern and then asked Bradley to paint over it.

After, she’d tell him to paint in the remaining white pieces. From this he made a striking gold and pink piece which is hung on the wall near the television among other paintings his mother did.

She added, “I always had him painting. If I'm doing some work, he always tries to take my brush and do my work."

She said because some of her works are for other people, she gives him his own canvas board and lets him work near her.

Bradley is yet to participate in any art competitions but is anxious to do so. Even though he began painting as soon as he woke up, it’s not his normal routine.

Other than painting, Bradley loves to play with toy trucks. Padilla said he even shows his creativity there since he takes apart the trucks to make what he wants.

She said he also loves soca music and had to unplug their radio because he’d turn the volume all the way up.