Early start in the art world

Max Middlemiss’ art has caught the attention of a professional artist and now it will be in the public eye when he holds his first exhibition at the age of 10.

Max met artist Sarah Platt last year when she had an exhibition at Square Edge Community Arts in Palmerston North. He said he noticed how she liked colour and detail just like him.

‘‘I saw all her buildings and the bright colours and I really liked her paintings. I wanted to meet her.’’

And so he did. The Manawatu¯ boy was encouraged to enter Platt’s children’s art competition and went away, ‘‘to get some art done’’.

When his entry came in Platt said she was amazed.

‘‘Max is brilliant. I was really excited when I saw what he had done. His paintings have a real life to them. I love that there is all this colour and detail and Max is making choices that are really mature. He just seems to know what will work. It’s just incredible.’’

Platt organised a small exhibition for Max at Square Edge and he said he had been busy getting the paintings ready.

‘‘It’s exciting because I have never done this before, but it’s stressful because of getting the paintings done on time.’’

Max said he painted all sorts of things and enjoyed creating colourful shapes and patterns in everyday objects like trees and buildings.

‘‘I start off with pencil, then I do the outlines and colour, then I do the outlines again. It takes me a long time and my hand gets tired, but I just stop when I think it’s finished.’’

The last bit of advice that Platt gave to Max was to ‘‘sign your paintings’’.

‘‘They are real works of arts and you should proudly put your name on them. You never know how much they might be worth in the future.’’

Max’s exhibition opens at Square Edge Community Arts on March 6 and runs for a month.