Thirteen is too young to vote, drink or drive, but it is old enough to have your own art exhibition, at least if you are as talented as Bermudian Nahshon Hollis.

Nahshon, a Saltus Grammar School Student, makes his debut with the exhibition 'Nahshon Hollis — Oil Paintings' at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art tomorrow.

There is an opening reception tomorrow from 5.30 to 7 p.m. and the show runs until May 27. It will include around 30 of Nahshon's oil paintings.

The work spans his entire artistic career, which is about five years.

"My early paintings were just landscapes," Nahshon told The Royal Gazette. "I use to watch Bob Ross on television a lot. I have some of his paints and things like that. That is how I started painting.

"Since I was little, I think I have worked more to make my paintings look 3D. I've worked on the lighting and shadows and stuff like that. My clouds are now fluffier. My early clouds look more fake to me now."

Although oil painting is his chosen medium, Nahshon also likes sketching in charcoal and pastels. He would like to try sculpture one day.

"I started drawing when I was two years old in nursery school," he said. "I was drawing a lot of stuff and my parents thought it was normal, but when I got older they noticed I really had a talent.

"They started buying me canvases when I was eight. That is when I started doing oil paintings. I don't like watercolours that much. I like texture."

Influenced by the Bob Ross school of thought, his early works are of mountains, lakes and bridges and palm trees on the sand, even though he has never seen a real mountain in his life.

Now, Nahshon is trying to put more of a story feel into his paintings.

His most recent work, a trilogy called 'Chronicles', shows just how far he has come. The paintings took months to complete, because his school work comes first.

In one darkened seascape, waves crash around a boat similar to the Sea Venture while a Native American looks on.

Another painting depicts a supernova like collision between the old and new cultures in North America. The third painting is of an eagle and represents peace.

"My older paintings are like nothing now," said Nahshon. "There is no comparison. In 'Chronicles', I just went straight ahead and did the rough water, but I was very nervous about it.

"There was a lot of blending and stuff. It took me about five hours to do the water. I never would have tried to paint those waves at age eight."

Although he did go down to the ocean and have a look at it, most of what he paints comes directly from his head. He is inspired by things he sees on television, on the Internet or learns about in school.

"The Chronicles paintings started as a school project for geography about the settlement and how Europeans came to America," said Nahshon. "That is how I got the idea."

Locally, he is inspired by the artwork of Sharon Wilson and Vernon Clarke. But his father has been careful to let Nahshon's talent develop without pressure. Other than art classes at school, Nahshon has never taken extra instruction.

"At the beginning, we were worried about other people influencing his style," said his father, O'Neil Hollis. "Elizabeth Morse Brown saw an article about him in the paper and called him.

"She said not to let anyone touch him. She said if he has his own style you don't really want to interrupt that."

But Mr. Hollis said now that Nahshon is older, they might reconsider that.

"If we can find financing, we will see where he can go," Mr. Hollis said. "If he gets around people of his calibre, that will push him further.

"We never pushed him as a child. But he keeps stressing that this is what he wants to do. This is how he wants to make his living. Now we have to look into the next step. We are taking it slow and we haven't forced anything."

Mr. Hollis said that although both he and his wife, Shawn, both have some artistic talent, it doesn't match Nahshon's. And Mr. Hollis admitted that until recently, he thought 'tempura' was a type of Sushi.

"I am the clean-up man," said Mr. Hollis. "Thinners on a young child is not too sharp, but we came to discover that dishwashing liquid straight will take off the oil paints when he is finished. I told him he is the one who has the most dishwashing liquid on him in the house and hardly ever washes dishes." There is now talk of Nahshon possibly doing a show in a gallery abroad, but his family would have to find the money for it first.

Many people are sceptical when they first see Nahshon's work, and assume Mr. Hollis or Mrs. Hollis did it.

"I have been called a liar a few times," said Mr. Hollis. "That is why the wife and I decided to get him painting in public.

"People would come here to my house and say 'oh this is what you do with your pastimes. This is good work'. I would say, 'it is not my work, it is my son's'. Then they would say: 'Come on Hollis'."

Partly for this reason, Nahshon's parents have encouraged him to paint publicly. He has taken part in several Masterworks art competitions and won prizes. He even won an honourary prize in a Masterworks quick draw competition really meant for adults. He also painted a piece live on television to help raise money for PRIDE.

But even when people see Nahshon painting, they still sometimes have trouble reconciling the idea that someone so young is doing the painting.

"One year my wife called Masterworks and asked if he could be in the Quick Art Competition," said Mr. Hollis. "They said it was just for adults, but he could come along and paint alongside them. So he went on a Saturday and it ended up being cancelled because of rain. But he said he wanted to practice. His mother had a small easel on a table. She was holding an umbrella over him while he painted. He had the wet paint and brush on the canvas and people still couldn't believe it.

"Or people were asking me where is his gallery was and did he have a card. I said his gallery is my living room and hallway, his studio is my kitchen, and here is my card. You can call me."

Nahshon is doing all the pricing for the upcoming show himself. The Chronicles trilogy is not for sale, (unless someone makes a very good offer). He has already sold approximately ten paintings during his career.

"The first painting I sold was for $1,000," said Nahshon. The money goes toward helping him continue to paint.

"He has to pay us back for all the supplies," said Mr. Hollis. "We can't match this with our daughter, Shanna, or he would be spoiled rotten. I am an entrepreneur, my wife is, and he has now started his business.

"Sometimes a tube of paint is $30 and he has hundreds. The canvases also cost money. His grandfather, James Wade, in St. George's, does the frames. During the show, if people don't want the frames, they don't have to take them."

One thing that characterises Nahshon is a certain level of perfectionism. He likes everything about his paintings to be right, and he spends a great deal of time researching on the Internet for accuracy.

"When he was eight or nine, he would get very upset if something wasn't right with a painting," said Mr. Hollis. "One time he got upset. He was crying. He turned red. Then we saw this little red line in his eye. We took him down to the hospital.

"He'd broken a blood vessel in his eye. We just had to talk to him. We told him to just calm down and do what you have to do."

After that, Nahshon's parents tried to discourage him from painting for a short time, but they found it impossible.

"My wife and I thought, we have one of those extreme artists on our hands," said Mr. Hollis. "We thought we better stop him. We couldn't stop him. He is just too passionate. We taught him to just slow down. Thank goodness, he doesn't get upset like that anymore.

"But if he asks you to look at a painting and asks you 'what is it'. If you say it is something different then what it is, you will come back and it is gone, and he is redoing it."

Nahshon's determination to improve shows in other parts of his life. He is well-rounded and enjoys cross country, and football. He has won medals for high jump at his previous school, Elliot Primary.

Unfortunately, he recently injured his leg during a highjump competition at Saltus.

"I was doing highjump and lifted off and my tendon lifted off my growth plate," said Nahshon. "I was jumping a metre and five inches. That was my personal record. If I had jumped higher than that I would have won. I still came second."