At the young age of three Nathaniel Pruitt was given a canvas and paints by his mother, Jennifer Tim, as a simple way to occupy the young child. But after some time had passed and Tim went to see how her son was doing, she now found herself face to face with a very unexpected result.
“It was just a feeling of complete shock” said Tim. “We couldn’t believe what we were looking at.” It seems Pruitt had taken incredibly well to painting, with his first piece clearly depicting a tree and birds with the foreground with a colorful sunset in the background.
As the young child continued painting over the years, his experience with the medium has continued to grow. When asked how why he paints, Pruitt explained that he enjoys “the swish sound of the paint as it goes onto the canvas.”
Tim elaborated in her young sons response, saying that seeing him paint over the years, it seems he is doing so by making use of the sound of the brush across the canvas to guide his strokes. So instead of looking to see visually how long a line is, Pruitt instead hears how long the sound of his brush going across the canvas takes and recalls it as he continues to paint similar objects. In particular Pruitt seems drawn to colorful subject matter and has a generally abstract style. In addicting to his work with paint on canvas, he also has begun to paint on shirts, hats and other fabric items as well as creating calendars, colorful wooden hearts, bookmarks, and other items. Over the years Pruitt’s work has received various recognitions, including an award from the local school district for his depiction of Liberty and through an audition for the show Shark Tank.
Pruitt’s work can be found online through a Facebook jointly run by him and his mother, as well as at the Merced Art Hop.
Photo 3: Painting by Nathaniel Pruitt A colorful and unique rendition of a lion created by the young artists Nathaniel Pruitt.
Photo 2: Nathaniel Pruitt Nathaniel Pruitt paints during a recent trip to a neighborhood park.
