Born to paint? Second solo show for 4-year-old

HAMPTON

Before the artist went into her studio, she plopped onto the living room carpet for a session with the Littlest Pet Shop, pulling out plastic puppies and kitties and spreading them all around her.

Hailie Marie Arnold's sharp vision picked out pieces from her mountainous pile that didn't look exactly like what you'd find in a pet shop. "Whoa! This is a chair! This is a scarecrow! This looks like a goofy hat!"

"It's a birthday hat," said her mother, Stormy Arnold, who sat on the floor beside her.

On this weekday morning, Dad was asleep in her parents' bedroom (he works nights), and baby brother Hayden was at her grandfather's house. With Hayden gone, Hailie could paint in the kitchen without worrying about him messing with her work, which is why she usually paints after he's gone to bed around 6 p.m.

She dragged the nice rug out of the kitchen while her mom got out a black tackle box full of acrylic paints. Mom found a fresh sheet of paper for her palette, laid down some paint-splattered towels, then handed her an unfinished picture frame.

The artist squirted glossy lumps of red and pink and green paint onto her palette.

Then Hailie, who is 4, began to paint.

That day, Hailie was well aware that her second solo exhibition was coming up. Called "Through Young Eyes," it opened Saturday at Walls Fine Art gallery in downtown Norfolk.

At Walls, artists rent display space. Adult artists, most of whom are formally trained.

Hailie has had a few paintings on view there since August, said Misty Graves, who runs the gallery. Her paintings are signed "Hailie Me," because that's how she says her name.

Since August, three of Hailie's paintings have sold. Her new show consists of 37 abstract paintings priced from $45 to $235.

Hailie was still 3 when she had her first big show. Blue Skies Art Gallery in Hampton, where the Arnolds live, displayed her art for two weeks starting in late July.

A poster for that show read: "Hailie's parents are not artistic and she is completely self-taught. Her abstract work is visionary, astonishing and refreshing."

Leslie Thayer, gallery manager at Blue Skies, said Hailie sold 15 to 20 pieces, mostly purchased by family and friends.

Fran Olsen, who heads the committee that selects which artists will show at Blue Skies, said last week that she had some concerns about showing the child's work. She wasn't entirely convinced that Hailie painted the works without direction or hands-on help. According to Olsen, Stormy Arnold told her she signed her daughter's name and painted the sides of the canvases.

"That mom was a little bit too supportive," Olsen said. If Hailie is a true prodigy, too much early pressure could sour her on art, Olsen said.

Arnold, standing in the yard and watching her daughter ride her purple bicycle around their quiet cul-de-sac, stressed that she does not push her daughter to make art or help her in the process. The 27-year-old mom said her daughter enjoys painting and she's just there to support her. In fact, she made a video of her daughter painting, which will be shown at Walls Fine Art.

It all began about a year ago, when Hailie decided to paint a rock, which is now in the yard by the front door. A neighbor, Skeet Nace, spotted it and told Arnold that he thought the girl might have real talent as an abstract artist.

So Arnold bought a few blank canvases and let her daughter paint them, recalled Nace, who collects glass art and paintings. Hailie's first works were Christmas presents for family.

"Then she started getting better at it," Arnold said.

Hailie began mixing colors and covering entire canvases with bold, expressive brush strokes. More and more often, she begged to paint.

Nace suggested that the Arnolds seek a gallery for her work. Her mother visited several galleries, landing the show at Blue Skies and membership with the Tidewater Art Alliance, which allowed Hailie to take part in a members show that recently ended at Portlock Galleries at SoNo in Chesapeake.

Her painting at Portlock, called "Firefly," did not sell or net Hailie an award. "I was so hoping she would earn a ribbon on it," Arnold said. "But she doesn't have all the education the other artists have."

Still, she has earned $450 on sales of her art - money that Arnold said has gone into a savings account for Hailie.

Earlier in the day, after looking through a stack of her paintings, with titles like "Fishing Hook" and "Candyland," Hailie appeared suddenly struck with a passionate yearning.

"I wanna paint! OK, I go get my stuff ready!"

Arnold usually lets Hailie pick out her colors, then Mom squirts the paint onto the palette. Because there was company, she let Hailie squirt them herself.

"We go through so much paint," Arnold said.

Working on a canvas, Hallie brushed black paint onto a large section, then took a bottle and squeezed out a large mound of red paint. She added broad strokes of red and blended that color into the black, leaving a portion of the canvas unpainted.

By then, her feet and legs and arms were splashed with red and black. "You want to paint with me?" Hailie asked the visiting reporter. "I don't like to paint by myself. I want her to paint with me," she told her mother. "It's hard!"

Hailie stabbed the canvas with the end of a large paintbrush, in apparent frustration.

"Hailie, baby, what are you doing?" Arnold said. "You're making a big mess."

The girl had gotten up early that morning and probably needed a nap, her mother explained. Instead of resting, Hailie donned her Hannah Montana wig and cap, grabbed her microphone and came strutting with confidence into the living room as her mother introduced the star of the show.

Later, Arnold stressed how proud she is of her talented daughter.

"Wherever Hailie leads," she said, "we'll follow."

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com