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Four-year-old's artwork goes on show
A four-year-old girl is wowing the New York art world with paintings that are drawing comparisons with Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky. Marla Olmstead, from Binghampton, in New York state, has been painting since just before she was two years old reports BBC online.

Using brushes, spatulas, her fingers and even ketchup bottles, she is creating canvases of six by six foot. The prodigy has already sold about 25 paintings, raising $40,000 (£22,000) and a new exhibition opens on Friday. Her father Mark said: "She does her own thing, she uses a lot of paint but is oblivious to the whole thing."

He said she had first started painting shortly before her second birthday as her father tried to stop her distracting him from his own amateur art. "It was me attempting to paint. I painted my wife's portrait and I gave her the paint as a diversionary tactic. She went at it with all colours. Initially she directed me, and then it evolved to the canvas."

Mr Olmstead said his daughter's work was evolving as she developed into a mature artist.
Gallery owner Anthony Brunelli said of 10 pieces about to go on show, six were already sold, and that the remaining four could fetch between $8-10,000. He said: "Her paintings are very large, anywhere from inches square, to 48 by 64 inches. They have vibrant colours, they're very expressive in the way the paint is applied, brush, spatula, her fingers. Some are Kandinskyesque and some are Pollockesque.

Mr Brunelli said he had a list of 20 people, from as far afield as Japan, who wanted to be allowed first pick of any upcoming work.