Meet the 11-year-old professional painter with a big piggy bank
Shawn Taylor paints landscapes and portraits for his clients
It can take decades to create a masterpiece.
But not for Shawn Taylor, who whittled down that wait by redefining the word entirely. To this 11-year-old, a masterpiece is simply a painting with meaning — and he has surrounded himself with many.
For three years, the prolific Conception Bay South artist has churned out enough of these noteworthy works to fill his bedroom.
When the overflow crept throughout the house, the Taylors started thinking about selling a few. But first, Shawn needed a brand.
And thus his blooming business, Shawn's Shining Art, was born.
"Everyone loved it, so that was the name after all," Shawn said.
Now, his canvases cover craft fair tables and the walls of his clients, some of whom discover Shawn through his Facebook page.
On the craft fair circuit, prospective buyers are sometimes confused by Shawn's booth, his mom said. "Just listening to people's reactions when they find out he's the artist? They're blown away," said Alice Taylor.
To date, Shawn has earned $5,000 from his business — money he's squirrelled away for art college, so he can continue painting his whole life.
Even though that's years away, Alice says art has been a lifelong love affair for her son.
"As a toddler, Shawn just always loved to paint and colour and draw," she said. "Trucks and trailers, boats, everything. Whatever he'd seen he liked to draw."
That passion, and early signs of latent talent, encouraged Shawn's uncle to arrange for lessons at the age of eight.
When Shawn revealed his first-ever painting, Alice said, "He had me nearly to tears … I was just dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it at all."
Shawn paints landscapes and portraits for his clients. "I gets a lot of houses for people, and I did two dogs, [and] I did an old truck for someone," he said.
It can take from a couple of hours to nearly a whole afternoon for him to finish a piece.
"It depends how much detail there is in a painting," he said, pointing to a rendition of a horse and carriage, painted from an old photo his grandfather once took. "This one here … that took me five hours to do."
It's time meaningfully spent for the ambitious youngster, who not only wants an art degree, but also his very own art school.
So for now, Shawn sits at his easel every day, applying strokes and daubs in quiet concentration — emulating his favourite artist, Bob Ross — and hoping he, too, will one day teach others to paint masterpieces of their own.
With files from Carolyn Stokes