Who is such an unassuming 35 year old young man, has to be one of the highlights of my weekend. He's not only recently painted a portrait of the Queen (see in the background) he's also the official 2012 Olympic artist. I asked him how he got to paint the Queen and he said that he was just in the right place at the right time. The Royal Portrait was commissioned by the Royal British Legion to celebrate the Queen's 85th birthday. He apparently had just two one-hour long sittings with the Queen that resulted in 400 hours of painting to produce the finished Royal Portrait. He said he took some early sketches in to show the Queen and she loved one so much, she now has it hanging in her sitting room. In my humble opinion, Darren Baker's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is brilliant. For me, it is made all the more beautiful by his down to earth, boy next door attitude to life. He's a Northern lad, I should have guessed! So the gallery in Chelts got to display one of the copies of this great painting. The Queen is painted sitting in a window in Buckingham Palace with 5 poppies pinned to her lapel and very cleverly, her watch is set to just 11am as a mark of remembrance and to remind her about the minute's silence! The portrait is exceptionally detailed in true Darren Baker style. The detail is breathtakingly accurate and I'm sure our Queen must love it!
I asked him what he's up to at the moment. He said he's currently working at the Olympic site painting and sketching the athletes in the lead up to next year's 2012 Olympics. For a young man of just 35, Darren Baker has achieved a extraordinary level of fame and success. He's an exceptionally talented young guy.
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