Sherlock’s Mrs Hudson gets arty in The Great British Paint Off
Last year Una Stubbs exhibited two watercolours of co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman- this year she's presenting BBC1's The Big Painting Challenge...
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Presenting your work on such a public stage is a daunting prospect for any artist, but particularly one who has spent years plagued by a crippling lack of self-confidence. “I’ve drawn since school but I could never draw outside in case anybody had a look over my shoulder…” she says. “Sometimes when I have a break from painting and then go back to it I think, ‘Oh, I’ve lost it.’”
Time, and the reassurance of loved ones, has enabled Stubbs to overcome her self-doubt. “I started doing individual Christmas cards and my friends were really encouraging.” She didn’t have to look far for inspiration. “If I’m on a station platform and somebody walks past, I’ll try and remember what they look like and then, when I can, I sketch them. I love drawing old people. I’ve always loved old people and how one line can change a face. ”
Richard Bacon describes himself as a passionate collector of “aggressively contemporary art”, and owns a Damien Hirst work that he bought for £10,000 and says is now worth lots more.
“I go around the world to art fairs. You can love art without being a painter in the way that you can love music without being a pianist. I love buying art, knowing artists, talking to them about their craft and their trade and their lives. As an outside observing it it’s wonderful. And so my passion is very real, even though I don’t have the craft.
He is convinced of the cathartic power of painting, although his concentration span make it difficult for him to settle down with a sketchbook. “We’re constantly distracted now, always checking our phones, so more than ever we need some painting in our lives, where you leave your phone at home and go and set up an easel for several hours.
I can’t see how that’s anything other than healthy, even if the painting’s terrible, even if you’re embarrassed by it. It’s like meditating; it’s a way of clearing your head. It’s such a mentally healthy thing to do.”
Making the series last summer has persuaded Bacon that he should try harder to master the brushstrokes. “I spoke to my wife and we’ve had this idea that we might do drawing lessons together. I thought it would be like singing – you either can or you can’t sing. But actually you can draw, you just need the techniques explaining to you.”
Bacon is keen that The Big Painting Challenge shouldn’t be dismissed as Bake Off with brushes. “I think it’s less Mel and Sue and probably closer to Countryfile. It’s got a gentle quality to it and that Sunday evening slot where you can imagine people like my dad will be watching – people who occasionally paint watercolours and like the idea of painting. And if the show inspires people to take up painting, that wouldn’t be a bad legacy, would it?”
The Big Painting Challenge is on Sunday 22nd February at 6.00pm on BBC1
