Pint-sized Picassos

Most children her age are still doodling with crayons or spattering paint. But three-year-old Celeste Wong Kai-yee has been painting up a storm that led to two solo exhibitions earlier this year.

Although Celeste began with stick figures, she soon moved to self-portraits. At the age of two, when other toddlers would rarely be persuaded to focus for more than five minutes, she would spend five hours absorbed in painting whenever inspiration struck.

Now three, she shows a deft use of colour and accurately depicts animals in a way that impressed visitors to her shows at the Visual Arts Centre and the Cultural Centre a few months ago.

An affinity for colour may be what's behind Celeste's drive to paint, says her mother, Eva Wong Sum-yiuh. Even as a baby, the youngster enjoyed dolling up. She demanded to pick her own outfits when she was just six months old, and clamoured for nail polish and accessories. Her little girl seemed particularly proud when she achieved a high level of resemblance with her paintings.

'I was surprised by her ability,' Wong says. 'When she was two, I tried to enrol her in art classes but she was rejected for being too young. I didn't know where to find programmes to further nurture her and began teaching her myself. I minored in fine art at the University of Southern California.'

Tales of art prodigies pop up every so often in the media. There's Kieron Williamson, Britain's so-called mini Monet, and four-year-old Aelita Andre from Australia, whose abstract daubs earned her solo exhibition in a New York gallery last month.

In Hong Kong, there are talented youngsters like Celeste Wong and five-year-old Kenny Lau Kin-gi, whose 19 paintings were sold by Sotheby's for HK$400,000 last December.