Matt Baker
THE COUNTRYFILE PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM
MAKING MORE TIME TO BE CREATIVE
Last year was a very busy one for me and this year, I’d really like to make more time for painting. It’s the only thing that really encourages me to sit still! Those of you who are aware of my dyslexia will understand that, instead of reading a lot as a child, I would draw and sketch and be attracted to artwork in books. All my favoured wildlife guides were those that had been hand-drawn or painted; I would find myself copying illustrations of the fungi and leaves that fascinated me as a kid. Growing up, painting encouraged me to look at subjects in a more scientific and detailed way. I painted a honey bee for Countryfile during lockdown and still feel a connection with the honey bee’s wasp-like anatomy. As I concentrated on its finer details, I noticed things that I had never spotted before.
I did quite a few sketches around the farm to include in my book A Year on our Farm. It felt like a very natural way for me to express myself and help me to tell my story of how the countryside has shaped me while growing up. I found sketching our flocks of sheep, woodlands and farm vehicles was a fitting way of putting myself into a book.
“ Painting encouraged me to look at subjects in a more detailed way”
I use a wide range of mediums, from oils to acrylics to pastels and poster paints. I used poster paints for a recent painting of a guard keeping vigil at the time of Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral. My followers on Instagram seem to enjoy watching me paint in the videos I post. One of the things I really enjoy about painting is noticing and replicating the colour palette of what’s in front of me and tweaking it to express the mood of how I’m feeling or what the subject is telling me. You can change the energy and feeling of something by changing the tone of the colours you’re using.
ARTISTIC INSPIRATION
Last year, we went on holiday for the first time in years. We chose to revisit a place that I felt a strong connection with from an artist’s point of view. It was in the hills of southern France that had attracted the great masters many years ago. We went to the cafés where Matisse and Picasso ate, we visited Renoir’s home and saw their paintings up close in galleries. To stand where Renoir stood with his easel, in his home and garden, was a unique experience that I’ll never forget. It’s a part of the world full of current artists and their work, too, and I brought back a beautiful landscape by an artist I’ve been inspired by for years, which captures the rural backdrop of a place I find very relaxing.
So, hopefully, as I stare at my new painting on the kitchen wall, it will inspire me to take more time to paint this year – ‘productive rest’ as I like to call it.
Watch Matt on Countryfile, Sunday nights on BBC One.