I let my son draw on all the walls in our house when he was a baby – now he’s a budding artist at 4-years-old and imitates Van Gogh
- Santiago Daniel Peña Garcia, 4, from Peru, paints every single day
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A mother who allowed her son to draw on the walls as a baby now believes it turned him into a budding artist.
Santiago Daniel Peña Garcia, from Peru, began drawing on the walls when he was just 10 months old – and now is a natural with a paintbrush and an easel, his mother Adianée claims.
From the moment he could walk, Santiago Daniel would draw on the walls in every room in the house, and his mother allowed him to let his creative juices flow.
Now he paints every single day – with his paintings including a version of Starry Night by Van Gogh.
Adianée said: ‘I had just bought some coloured pencils and I didn’t want him to ruin them, so I got him crayons.
Santiago Daniel Pena Garcia, from Peru, is a budding artist after learning his craft by painting on the walls as a toddler
‘He started to draw all over the walls but he seemed so happy that I couldn’t stop him.’
Santiago Daniel’s drawings were such that the family even had to re-paint the apartment before they moved out.
But Adianée thinks it was worth because she raised an artist.
Santiago Daniel’s scribblings weren’t everybody’s tastes and Alianée’s brother, who lived with the pair at the time, didn’t like it.
Little Santiago Daniel, who is now 4-years-old, sits down with paintbrushes and a canvas every day
The budding artist’s mother allowed him to draw on all the walls in the house when he was a baby
Adianée said the landlord of their house was shocked when he saw what Santiago Daniel had done in the house, but added she eventually painted over the drawings
Adianée said: ‘At the beginning, my brother didn’t like it because it wasn’t our house, but then he saw how much Santiago Daniel enjoyed it.
‘He basically painted every wall in the house. Our bedroom, the hallway, the kitchen and the living room were covered.
‘The landlord saw it too when we left and he looked so shocked, but we were already painting over it so it was fine.’
Adianée believes that stopping the tot would have stifled his passion for art and says other parents should follow her lead.
She said: ‘I think if he had done it and I had taken away his crayons it would have killed his passion for creativity.
Santiago’s mother believes all parents should ‘let their children be’ when it comes to their creative outlets
‘I’ve seen parents do that and their kids just don’t enjoy painting like Santiago Daniel does.
‘I would recommend other parents let their children be.
‘They probably won’t all be artists because they scribbled on the walls but they shouldn’t limit something that could help their growth, their creativity.
‘They shouldn’t see it as naughty thing. Walls can be re-painted and kids are kids.’
The little boy now dedicates at least 40 minutes a day to painting.
His inspiration comes from cartoons.
His favourite things to paint are The PJ Masks, Disney’s Luca or Mickey Mouse.
Adianée said: ‘He will sit watching TV and then say: ‘mum, I want to paint that!’
‘It depends on the painting but it varies from 40 minutes to an hour or so.
‘I don’t make him do anything so he gets distracted and goes to play with something else and then comes back later. He’s only four.’
Adianée says that scribbling on walls was a major factor in her son’s journey but think she also inspired him.
Adianée is a passionate artist herself and would often make toys for her son.
Adianée moved to Peru from Venezuela in 2017 with no money, forcing her to make the toys herself.
The single mum said that she could see him learning from her as she worked.
She said: ‘I made him books, teddy-bears, I made a chimney for us one Christmas, so we could have a classic Christmas.
‘Santiago Daniel would lie next to me and watch while I painted them, he would grab at my paintbrushes too.
‘He’s been so smart since he was a baby I could see that when he held my paintbrushes he used the same grip as me.
‘Of course sometimes he would hold them in his fist like a normal baby, but he tried to do it correctly.’
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