Hard work often masquerades as “talent” when it comes down to creativity. Talent certainly exists — in ways perhaps more esoteric than most might think — but while a person can be predisposed to excel in a field, that by no means will ensure success. For portrait artist Samantha Gosling, 25, that predisposition — her “talent”, so to speak — was discovered at the tender age of 12 months. But it was the encouragement that came afterward, she said, that put her on the road to becoming a professional artist.

Art has always been something she excelled at and enjoyed. Perhaps more importantly, the same could be said for her parents who have nurtured that passion since a visit to the paediatrician when Samantha was barely one years old. Now a successful artist receiving commissions — one can even find a portrait of hers in City Hall these days — Samantha recalled the day her “talent” for fine art was first discovered.

“When I was a baby my mom took me to the doctor and he had me do a drawing of myself,” she told The Royal Gazette from her home in Paget. The doctor, who presumably had good reason, warned Samantha’s mother not to help her in drawing the self-portrait. “Then she showed it to him and he didn’t believe her. He thought she’d helped me.”

Samantha’s self-portrait displayed an eye for detail and a sense-of-self normally reserved for children in far more advanced stages of cognitive development: it had ten fingers. Even at three years old, children seldom pick out small details when painting themselves — think of a circle with four appendages and a smiley face — let alone take the time to draw each detail in representation of reality.

That talent — which Samantha regarded more as a “weird ability” — is really just a sense of space, she said.

“It’s about perspective, and having an idea of how far things sit apart, or how straight they are. When I do a picture or painting and I’m drawing something with depth, I can feel the space while I’m drawing it. I understand where the space is, to the point that I don’t really have to think about it anymore. When I was younger I had that ability to sense space so that I could draw something more accurately, I guess. I was more considerate about everything I was doing. I understood that I had five fingers, and I thought about that and I understood that my pinky was shorter than my other fingers.”

Fifteen years later, what might have just been a preoccupation with art turned into a dogged pursuit. At 16-years-old, Samantha’s parents — whom she said have been “extremely supportive” in her pursuit of art — capitulated to their daughter’s demands and agreed to send her to the boarding school Williston Northampton in Easthampton, Massachusetts. It was here that her artistic future was sealed even further under the tutelage of “amazing” art teachers who pushed her toward portraitures after they too noticed her attention to detail. It was thanks to their support and advice, she said, that she was able to grow into an artist worthy of being accepted into the United State’s most prestigious fine art schools, the Rhode Island School of Design.

“Everyone that was around me was extremely talented,” she said. But instead of being intimidated, Samantha found friends with which she could flourish. Everyone got along right away because we could all relate to the same thing. Everyone put so much effort into what they were doing that you just really wanted to work hard. Freshman year we were staying up late every night working in the studio — we were all partying like regular college students but at the same time working really, really hard. I didn’t sleep at all that year.”

The summer after her freshman year, Samantha was able to call herself a professional after painting 20 commissions and making a pretty penny in the process.

“Because people had seen the portraits and there were more people that wanted them, that’s kind of when it took off,” she said, speaking about her career. Since earning her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and Illustration from RISD and returning to Bermuda, Samantha has been juggling bar tending and commission work, her most notable commission coming from former Mayor of Hamilton, Charles Gosling, who asked her to paint his official portrait last year. With portraits Samantha faces a market that is very particular about the faces hanging in their living rooms — buyers don’t usually go for paintings of people they don’t know — and while landscapes might be a more lucrative pursuit, Samantha said she is “more interested in making work that is different from what any other artist has done in Bermuda.” She hopes to put that pursuit on display in a yet-to-be announced show toward the end of the year. “I really want to use lots of different Bermudian imagery but in a very textile, patterned way, but very detailed. It’s hard to explain.”

Samantha’s success, however, is not.