Three-year-old Iris Grace Halmshaw loves water, trees, wind, dancing on tiptoes and holding things in her left hand. The British toddler cannot talk yet due to her autism, but she is able to express herself through beautiful paintings that have been sold to collectors for hundreds of dollars.


Iris Grace was diagnosed with autism in 2011. She struggles to interact with others or maintain eye contact, according to a website set up by her parents. As part of her therapy, Iris's parents encouraged her to take up painting, which she quickly grew to love, spending up to two hours on elaborate pieces.


"Her autism has created a style of painting which I have never seen in a child of her age," mother Arabella Carter-Johnson wrote on the site. "She has an understanding of colours and how they interact with each other. She beams with excitement and joy when I get out the paints, it lifts her mood every time."


SCROLL FOR PHOTO


Her proud parents have been shocked by the overwhelmingly positive reception their daughter's work has received online.


"When she started doing art therapy we thought it was amazing, but we're her parents so we think everything she does is amazing," her father, Peter-Jon Halmshaw, told the Leicester Mercury. "But lots of other people started saying it was great. It went berserk from there."


Painting has given Iris an invaluable way to calm down, according to the Daily Mail. During a visit with the family at their home in Market Harborough, England, the Mail's Francis Hardy reported that Iris -- who dislikes clothes and almost always paints topless -- paints with "quiet deliberation" occasionally broken by happy squeals.


Cafe Mom's The Stir writes that Iris Grace proves parents should never underestimate their kids' talents:


We should always let them try new things that could uncover that talent. Give your child a guitar, a ball, or a paintbrush and see what happens. A disability should never define us or our kids. Keep painting Iris Grace! You are such an inspiration.

So far, the family has sold many prints of her paintings, which are listed from £38.00 (about $58) to £295.00 (about $450) on the family's website. Her parents are currently seeking a sponsor for an exhibition in November that will be followed by an auction of Iris's original works, according to the Mercury. Money raised will be put toward Iris' therapy.


iris halmshaw paintings


Also on HuffPost:






  • Cameron Sky Villa


    By 2008, then two-year-old <a href="http://www.cameronvilla.com/" target="_hplink">Cameron Sky Villa</a> was having his second art show, displaying over 40 new paintings priced at $500 dollars a piece. According to an article posted on the the young artist's website, his first painting was initially priced at $2,000 but a haggling customer persuaded Cameron's father -- an artist who manages a frame store that sells the boy's art -- to lower the amount to $500. Cameron's parents say that he generally spends about a minute on each painting before asking to ride his bike, insisting that their child is not a prodigy but just a kid that loves to paint. After watching Cameron attempt to put his t-shirt on by himself at the beginning of this video, we can see where they're coming from.




  • Hamzah Marbella


    In 2001, then eight-year-old <a href="http://hamzahmarbella.com/hamzah-marbella-a-child-prodigy/" target="_hplink">Hamzah Marbella</a> made his way into the world of art as the youngest member of the Artists Association of the Philippines. He started painting at the age of two, formally joined competitions at the age of four, and had won over 50 awards by the age of eight. We're not exactly sure what awards he won, for all we know he could have been dominating his elementary school's craft fair, but his website states that some of his work is housed at UN headquarters in New York City.




  • Wang Yani


    <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0590449060?tag=girlscando&link_code=as3&creativeASIN=0590449060&creative=373489&camp=211189" target="_hplink">Wang Yani</a> is a Chinese artist who began painting at the age of two. Her work was exhibited in China when she was four, appeared on a postage stamp when she was eight, and was shown in a solo exhibition at a museum in London when she was fourteen. After that, her work showed up at galleries in the US and Germany. Monkeys, baboons and cats were her favorite subjects to paint, and one of her first paintings -- created when she was three years old -- was simply titled "Kitty."




  • Akiane Kramarik


    <a href="http://www.artakiane.com/home.htm" target="_hplink">Akiane Kramarik</a> started drawing at the age of four, painting at six, writing poetry at seven and making Oprah appearances by 10. Her gift for the arts was so overwhelming that her atheist parents converted to Christianity upon seeing their child's religious visions on canvas, according to a <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070124075844/http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2004/004/7.24.html" target="_hplink"><em>Today's Christian</em> article</a>.




  • Josh Tiessen


    <a href="http://www.joshtiessen.com/" target="_hplink">Josh Tiessen</a> had his first public art exhibition at age eleven and his first gallery exhibition titled "Josh Tiessen: Launching into Fine Art" at age fourteen. Since then, the Canadian teenager has had 15 exhibitions, sold over 50 original works and over 100 limited edition prints, and opened his own gallery, "Josh Tiessen Studio Gallery."




  • Marla Olmstead


    <a href="http://www.marlaolmstead.com/" target="_hplink">Marla Olmstead</a> attracted international attention at the age of four when 25 of her abstract artworks sold for $40,000. The paintings were compared to works from Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock, but soon prompted observers to question whether they could actually be produced by a toddler. A 2005 <em>60 Minutes</em> episode and the 2007 documentary <em>My Kid Could Paint That </em>explored the accusation that Olmstead didn't create the paintings on her own, but it was never ultimately proven.




  • Alexandra Nechita


    <a href="http://alexandranechita.com/" target="_hplink">Alexandra Nechita</a>, or the "Petite Picasso" as some refered to her as, was drawing by two, painting with watercolors by five and working with oil and acrylic at seven. She had her first solo exhibition at the age of eight at the public library in Whittier, Los Angeles County and went on to exhibit internationally and also star in an episode of "Boy Meets World". The Romania-born artist is still going strong in her 20s, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/ypwr/2007/11/alexandra-nechita_26.html" target="_hplink">telling CNN</a> that she knew she was in it for the long run when she heard an observer of her work say, "That's a Nechita."




  • Aelita Andre


    If you haven't seen pint-sized artist <a href="http://www.aelitaandreart.com/aelitaandreart.com/Home.html" target="_hplink">Aelita Andre</a> splatter her paint and toss about her glitter, you are truly missing out. She had her first exhibition at 22 months old, standing out as the youngest toddler in this slideshow to sell a painting. And she's definitely developed the attitude necessary to hold onto her title as the princess of prodigies, proclaiming in this video, "I love painting. I am going to paint for 24 hours." Take that, competition. She's not even going to sleep.




  • Kieron Williamson


    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/nine-year-old-artist-kier_n_1669610.html" target="_hplink">Earlier this month</a>, nine-year-old <a href="http://kieronwilliamson.com/" target="_hplink">Kieron Williamson</a> sold 24 paintings in 15 minutes for the very-adult price of $386,000. He began painting at the ripe old age of six, and has been unwaveringly supported by his doting mother who recently wrote a biography about the young painter, modestly titled "Kieron Willimason Coming to Light -- The Remarkable Story of A Child's Gift to Painting."




  • Autumn de Forest


    Eight-year-old Autumn de Forest became quite the press darling in 2010, charming her way into the hearts of every media outlet with an acronym. Even <em>The Discovery Channel</em> called her "an artistic genius." The young artist, now ten years old but still painting hearts and ballerinas, is such a "genius," that she's been able to fetch $25,000 for a single painting. Intrigued? Watch Autumn compare herself to Andy Warhol in this video.




  • BONUS: Joshua Caleb Johnson


    <a href="http://www.glasshack.com/about/" target="_hplink">Joshua Caleb Johnson</a> is on the older end of the artist prodigy spectrum, because he didn't sell a painting until he was 13. We would have forgiven the home schooled Joshua for getting such a late start, but we didn't get a chance. He's already ended his illustrious painting career, turning instead to acting and film making.