AS ART exhibition openings go, it was an unusually lively one.

Instead of glasses of wine and polite small talk, there was face painting and temporary tattooing as a colourful new art show was officially unveiled in Bradford.

The artists behind the work were all children - some as young as five - who attend the Young Masters art school, which runs on evenings and weekends from venues in Bradford, Bingley, Guiseley, Thackley and Saltaire.

The exhibition, at Kala Sangam arts centre in central Bradford, was the biggest of its kind put on by Young Masters since it was founded a couple of years ago by mum-of-two Virginija Knowles.

Dr Knowles said she had set up the visual art school because she had noticed there was nothing of its kind for her own children.

She said it was very different in her native Lithuania, which usually has a small visual art school in each town.

She said Young Masters was now going from strength-to-strength, with 100 primary-age children now on the rolls, but the six-monthly exhibitions were always a particular highlight.

She said: "Every child is hopping, their eyes are beaming.

"To see their work up on the wall makes such a difference to every artist.

"You can paint in you art studio as much as you like, but never show it. Showing your work is what defines being an artist.

"When children draw, they are so unassuming, so uninhibited. They just start drawing. They don't think, 'Is this the right line, is it the correct angle, is it the right shape?'

"When you draw as an adult, you try to please, you think about how somebody else will see it.

"A child doesn't have that perception, so they just express themselves, and that is what they love so much.

"Of course we push them, we might ask them to give it light and shadow, and once we point it out they learn so quickly."

The exhibition pulled together the work the children had created throughout autumn and winter.

As well as the Van Gogh-inspired paintings and comic book-style collages, there were also charcoal drawings, watercolour paintings of leaves and bold printed patterns.

At the show's grand opening on Saturday, many of the children turned up to point out their framed artwork to proud parents, grandparents and siblings.

They could also get their faces painted.

One of the children, seven-year-old Renz Jinson, of Bradford, was at the exhibition with his family to show them the work he had been doing in his classes at Kala Sangam.

He said: "I really like art now."

The Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Abid Hussain, was guest of honour and handed out more than 70 certificates to children whose work was featured in the displays.

He said: "It's amazing, it's fantastic and I think we should be proud of ourselves because we are creating young talent in our city and our district.

"They will be great ambassadors for our district.

"When I looked at the paintings, then I saw the ages of the artists - five or six - I couldn't believe it. They are all so talented.

"I was talking to one young girl and I asked her what she wanted to be when she was older.

"She said, 'I want to be an art master.'

"It's brilliant, honestly. I'm delighted to hand out the certificates.

"When they grow up, that talent will develop and we will show the rest of the world.

"At the moment they are five or six or seven, but by the time they get to 18 to 20, they will be amazing and we will be so proud of them."

The exhibition runs at Kala Sangam until Saturday, February 13.

For more information, visit idleartstudio.com.