There were no iPads, gameboys or mobile phones in the Grainger household as Solomon grew up - just a boy with blank paper, a texta and an intense desire to draw.

The Canberra teen next week launches his first solo exhibition - Dragon and Boy - at Aarwun Gallery in Nicholls, and credits a creative household, his artistic mum and a serious lack of screen time as major contributors to his artistic success.

"I knew in primary school that I wanted to be an artist," Solomon said.

"I was just drawing all the time, if there was a spare moment I would be drawing. We didn't have any video games in our house and I would always be drawing and sketching instead to fill my time."

The former Daramalan College student - currently on a gap year before taking up study at the Canberra School of Art - says Dragon and Boy was inspired by a shoebox of old drawings he found in the family's Hackett garage earlier this year.

Mum Kacy had kept the drawings, "mostly done on the back of old faxes and ANZ bank statements", to remember the creativity of a four-year-old Solomon.

"I was always wrestling with this idea of what's my trademark? What's my signature style? What am I going to be?," Solomon said.

"And when I found this collection of drawings I realised that you can't have a style any closer to your own signature than something you drew when you didn't have any other influences.

"Mum had luckily kept my old drawings, and they were the beginning of the exhibition.

"I was able to do my first few drawings actually based off those from my childhood, a direct translation of the work on paper onto a canvas, and then I was in the swing of things to really free up and just go back into that childlike state.

"It felt amazing."

Also keen to explore the use of natural materials as part of the exhibition, Solomon ventured to the family's vacation home at Lake George and used mud from the lake's shores in several of the paintings. Red sand collected from Alice Springs and brought home by dad Richard in a Mount Franklin bottle also creates vibrant colour on three of the exhibition works.

"I definitely want to share my work with as many people as possible," Solomon said.

"Just to have an exhibition in my gap year was a goal for me, so that in its own way is a success and I'm proud of that."

Dragon and Boy, a solo exhibition by Solomon Grainger. May 27 to June 17. Aarwun Gallery, Federation Square, O'Hanlon Place, Nicholls. For further information visit http://aarwungallery.com/