For the last year, Matt Watkinson has immersed himself in his art, creating a body of work capturing nature scenes and, in the process, piquing the interest of people across the community in Brantford.
However, before finding his passion in oil painting, Watkinson lived in Los Angeles for close to a year and a half pursuing other ventures.
“I had a business [related to skateboarding] at the time that I was running, and I took a gamble on going to California to start my business. But when I got down there, I discovered that there were so many issues with taxes…[and] just finding a spot to do my work. And, so I had been writing a book for a while which was sort of my passion project, and decided to finish it when I had really no way back home at that time. It’s called ‘Tommy Who Tried,’ which is a children’s book. I illustrated and wrote it and it’s about skateboarding, “ he said. “California is the mecca of skateboarding, which is why I was down there in the first place. I started handing out the book to pro skateboarders in downtown Los Angeles…[and] a skater got wind of what I was doing [and] he forwarded the book to a professional skateboard magazine. They did an interview with me [which] helped a lot with initial sales and growing some awareness for the book. The book is still available online, but I haven’t promoted it in the last year since I’ve been painting a lot.”
Although Watkinson would end up selling his business in 2023, as well as gaining a lot of life experience during his time in the United States, he yearned to come home to Canada.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed my country…so, when I [eventually] came back to Canada, I started to really notice all the trees and nature in the area. I live in the countryside right now [and] I felt compelled to try and start painting it,” he stated. “Actually, I started doing this type of painting using watercolors, before I did oil and then one thing led to another [and] I became a bit obsessive and just kept going…and now I am painting a lot, trying to get my work out there.”
While Watkinson tried other mediums, he ended up sticking with oils as it resonated with him.
“I absolutely love painting with oil [and] just on a deeper level, not [simply] as a convenient medium to use….with painting in acrylics, or even other mediums like watercolor, it usually dries really fast, so there may be limited options…but with oil, you can start a painting and come back to it the next day and keep blending and adding colors or whatever you want to do. So, I love that aspect of it,” he explained. “And with oil, I feel that it’s really pretty when you finish the painting…especially the nature scenes in the summer…like the foreground elements, we can leave the paint pretty thick and get an almost 3D effect; [getting the] trees to look like they have real bark, or the rocks to look really [rugged.] It gives it an extra special feature that I don’t think you find with other paint mediums.”
As Watkinson continued to get better, his entrepreneurial instincts kicked in and he started to feature his work in downtown Brantford, painting while selling many of his completed pieces to people passing by.
“I suppose it’s almost out of necessity to intertwine [business and art.] The economy is hard right now, and there were times when my book sales weren’t going well when I was in Los Angeles…so, I had to find other ways to make money. In this case, I found that even when I started getting good at painting, I still wasn’t making money from it or even selling my paintings [so that’s] the reason why I’m always painting downtown,” said Watkinson. “I get better and more positive reactions from people just walking down the street then posting it online…and I get more value, not just from selling my paintings there, which is really nice, but also meeting so many great people too.”
In fact, Watkinson has grown to enjoy the experience, especially the eclectic mix of people he is meeting on a daily basis.
“I’ve met some of the best people in the time I have been painting downtown. These people have really inspired me to just keep doing what I’m doing. And even with the winter weather, it doesn’t really matter to me…because of the great people I have been meeting. The other day I was talking with someone that I just met, about how painting has taught me so much about nature [and] about life,” Watkinson said.
Across the numerous paintings that Watkinson has done in the last year, there is one in particular that he simply won’t sell.
“One of my favorite pieces right now that I can’t bring myself to sell is called ‘Lovey.’ It isn’t anything complex as it has two trees and a little creek. But actually, it’s supposed to be an homage to my best friend whose mother passed away when he was very young,” he said.
However, Watkinson has found a place for himself in the Brantford community ever since he came back from Los Angeles, which is also inspiring him to create more works of art as well as help others in need.
“I feel I have a place in the community now, and there’s somethings I want to do [related to] art in Branford that could happen in the near future like events including art crawls,” he said. “Recently, my friend Rob Van Eck and I have been doing things downtown while I’m painting like bringing down warm clothes or food…[and] handing these items out to people in need. And it just seems like a positive thing that’s bringing the community together.”
