Drawing attention – Winnipeg Free Press

Callan Thompson is very much a typical 11-year-old.

He enjoys video games, basketball, Marvel movies and goofing around with his brother Isaac on a backyard trampoline. Oh, and he’s also responsible for Callan’s Art, a venture that markets his colourful line of hand-drawn greeting cards and matted prints.

Seated next to his mother Adele at their dining room table, Callan remembers he first caught the art bug in 2019, when he was a Grade 1 student in San Francisco. One morning, his teacher instructed the class to do a watercolour painting, by using a photograph of their own choosing as the subject material.

His was of an owl with blue and yellow feathers, he says, dressed in jeans and a bright tie-dye T-shirt. Although he was among the last to complete the task, his teacher deemed his effort to be exemplary. Additionally, she posted a picture of the finished product on the school’s Facebook page, along with the message “Whoa, the owl paintings are fabulous this year.”

Encouraged by her kind words and actions, Callan, who was born in Vancouver, went on YouTube to learn more about recreating images from snapshots, a style of art he came to understand was called photorealism. He was soon spending a good chunk of his spare time rendering finely detailed, pencil-crayon drawings of other members of the animal kingdom, by studying pictures he came across online and in books.

Callan’s family moved to Winnipeg, where his father had enrolled at the University of Manitoba in March 2020. He’d only been attending his new school for a week when the world went into lockdown.

Theirs was already a “homebody family,” his mother says, but, for obvious reasons, they became even more so during the early stages of COVID. “That was when Callan really started getting his pencil crayons out, and became even more focused on his drawings and technique.”

Last summer, the family spent a month in the United Kingdom, visiting Adele’s relatives in Wales and Liverpool. Callan and his brother had been told ahead of time it was going to be a screen-free vacation. For that reason, he made sure to pack his art supplies for the road.

He’d never attempted a landscape scene before, but he decided to give it a whirl, by duplicating the view from his great-uncle’s backyard in Aberystwyth, Wales, a picturesque coastal community overlooking Cardigan Bay. By the time the trip was over, he’d filled up an entire sketchpad with images of the English countryside, including drawings of native fauna and flora.

Besides his outside interests mentioned off the top, Callan is also a “Lego nut.” After returning from overseas, he expressed interest in a Lego set that retailed for close to $100. His mother suggested he try to earn the money by selling some of what he had drawn across the pond. That sounded like a great idea, he agreed.

Adele did the preliminary footwork, by finding a Winnipeg printing company that could convert high-resolution photos of his artwork into standard-size greeting cards. For the initial run, he settled on drawings of a butterfly, a pair of love birds, a robin, a shoreline and a hibiscus flower. Mother and son then packaged the blank-inside cards as sets of five, which he proceeded to sell at a lemonade-style stand he erected on the boulevard outside their home, one August afternoon. (His brother got in on the act, too, by peddling treats such as potato chips and Rice Krispie squares, at an adjacent setup.)

Not only did Callan net enough in earnings to afford the Lego set he had his heart set on, some passers-by openly wondered if he could draw a likeness of their pet cat or dog, if they supplied him with a photo. Just like that, Callan’s Art was born.

School is always going to come first, Callan remarks. That said, he did set aside time last fall to attend a few pop-up markets ahead of the holiday season, including one in support of a non-profit animal rescue. He also participated in a youth event staged at St. Norbert Farmer’s Market this past January, which granted entrepreneurs 18-and-under an opportunity to strut their stuff, so to speak.

“Most people want to know how old I am, or if I’m really the person who drew everything,” he says, when asked what sort of questions arise when he dons his salesperson’s hat. “And of course, everybody wants to know ‘how much?’”

Lyne Morissette is the owner of Little Tree Hugger Soap Co., which sells all-natural bath and body products together with foodstuffs and home accessories. She introduced herself to Callan and his mother a few months ago, when the two of them were poking through the shelves of her Corydon Avenue locale.

“We started talking about the concept of our shop being one supporting Manitoba businesses and artists, by helping to give them a start in the market,” says Morissette, whose operation will open at a new address, 515 Century St., on May 1. “Callan showed me his beautiful artwork and I was completely blown away by his talent.”

Little Tree Hugger Soap Co. stocks an assortment of Callan’s creations. Morissette says customers often have a hard time believing he’s a fifth grader when they turn over one of his greeting cards and read his bio on the back.

“And reasonably so, as his art is much more advanced than you’d expect from an 11-year-old,” she adds.

Marlene Hornick, manager of Love Local Manitoba, located in St. Vital Centre, is also a big fan.

“I was on Facebook marketplace when I saw Callan’s mother advertise his work. I’m a firm supporter of young entrepreneurs, and believe they need as many platforms as possible, so I reached out to his mom, and offered him space in the store,” says Hornick, whose two-and-a-half-year-old premises stock hundreds of locally-made goods, such as Jacked Up Jill coffee, Smak Dab mustard and Coal & Canary candles.

Hornick, whose favourite piece of Callan’s artwork depicts a surfer riding the waves, says she happily points out his display to everybody who ventures into the shop.

“He has done very well in sales and has amazed many.”

Lately, Callan, who belongs to an after-school art class on Tuesdays, has added portraits of people to his repertoire. Admittedly, he is still struggling with eyes and facial expressions, but he is pleased a visitor is able to recognize Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, from a sketch he’s putting the finishing touches on. (Don’t let the professional-looking wooden easel it’s resting on fool you, his mom chuckles. Typically, Callan does his best work while kneeling at the living-room coffee table, listening to Crazy Frog through his headphones.)

Of course, she and her husband never want Callan’s Art to feel like a job, Adele is quick to point out. At the same time, because her son occasionally accepts custom orders, such as one of a group of manatees he started on a couple of weeks ago, she will check with him now and again, to see how things are coming along.

“Not that he ever really needs an extra push,” she says, urging Callan to explain how he motivates himself to punch the clock.

“A while ago, I came up with the idea that, after finishing a commission, we should all go to McDonald’s for supper,” he says, listing fries and a quarter-pounder with cheese — hold the pickles — as his go-to order. “First, because it’s a good reward for getting my work done, and second, because I really, really like McDonald’s.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca