Meet the 17-year-old Quebec painter taking her work international [Video]

Seventeen-year-old Mégane Fortin started painting at seven years old. She’s exhibited her work in Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has a hands-on approach, sometimes using her fingers to create abstract works.

As a child taking art classes, Mégane Fortin felt constrained by some traditional principles of painting.

So, she decided to completely ignore them.

“I didn’t like that we have rules … All people did the same thing,” said Fortin, with a chuckle, standing in front of a dozen of her paintings displayed at a local Quebec City café.

The 17-year-old abstract artist from Stoneham, Que., has now been painting outside the lines for the past 10 years.

She says her creativity soared when her mom first signed her up for an abstract painting course when she was seven.

“It’s liberating … Art is like therapy,” said Fortin, who presented her first collection at nine years old.

Since then, she’s painted pieces that have sold …