Young artist prepares for first exhibition

Kevin Kovacs, eight, will be exhibiting his work between February and April

An eight-year-old artist is preparing for his first exhibition after an art gallery spotted his paintings online.

Kevin Kovacs, from Wellington, Somerset, will have his watercolour paintings of scenes from around the south west of England showcased at the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre in Taunton.

Centre director Andy Pulleyn said: "For an eight-year-old boy doing that now, what might he be doing in the future?"

His mother Natalia said she first noticed he was showing promise as an artist when he was just five years old.

"He taught himself by watching tutorials online," she said. "I was amazed with the results and so was everyone around me."

Rather than sticking them on the fridge door, Kevin's parents posted the paintings on social media.

Kevin told the BBC he prefers working with watercolours because they dry very quickly

Kevin said his posts started garnering lots of likes, with one photograph receiving more than 300 interactions.

The posts were spotted by staff at the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre who approached Kevin's parents with the idea of hosting his first show.

Angela Harding, exhibition co-ordinator, said: "I was very impressed with the work that he did for his age.

"Then the more I saw, I could tell that it was a constant talent rather than just a one-off."

Kevin, who is a pupil at Beech Grove Primary, said his favourite thing about using watercolours is the speed.

"Watercolours take half an hour to dry, oil paintings take like a month. If I have an exhibition, I want to have lots of paintings ready."

The exhibition starts on 25 February and runs until 28 April.