Farmer turned artist throws open his barn doors to take part in North Yorkshire Open Studios event

Both this weekend and next, as part of the North Yorkshire Open Studios - where artists invite people to their studios to see them at work and view their pieces – Mr Barker will be throwing open the doors to a barn that he usually uses for lambing and storing potatoes.

This week he has turned it into an art gallery and is exhibiting as part of the annual event, established in 2005, for the very first time.

"I’ve no idea what to expect. I might get two people or I might get a thousand. It is 50 years since I left school and started painting and I have somewhere around a hundred paintings around the houses and thought I needed to do something – even if I never do it again.”

Mr Barker of Moor House Farm, between Northallerton and Bedale, has suckler cows and calves, 60 ewes and grows and sells potatoes with days, particularly at the moment, starting at 4.30am and ending at midnight.

However, he always finds time to see the artistic opportunity, even if it means just taking a picture with the camera he always carries with him and coming back to paint it later.

His farm, his livestock and the outdoor environment around it are key themes in his work.

Mr Barker said: “Art was not generally something I enjoyed at school. The art teacher wanted to do modern art and I decided I liked history better.

"I have always enjoyed painting and drawing and it fits in well with farming. Farming is heavy and arduous, whereas that is gentle and relaxing. There is that contrast which I like.

"Plus, I am outside and in the countryside and that is what I love to paint.”

A piece can take 85 hours to complete, one can be painted in a day depending on his workload on the farm, but most of the time he paints while manning a stall selling his potatoes at markets in Leyburn and Northallerton.

Often he draws a crowd as people are surprised to see a farmer donning a paint brush.

Mr Barker, aged 66, added: “I think people were surprised initially because I had been selling potatoes for many years, to then find that I started painting, it was of comment and merriment.

"For someone who would never stand on a stage, I can sit in front of people and paint and be quite happy.

"But if you are going to sit on front of a crowd and paint, you have to have a level of confidence in yourself and I think after 40 years I started to get that in myself and people have been very supportive.”

North Yorkshire Open Studios is now considered one of the major events in North Yorkshire’s cultural calendar.

With studios located right across the county, from the remote hills of the Upper Dales to the suburban streets of Harrogate, across the Vale of York to the rural North York Moors and Coast, visitors have the opportunity to visit unique and varied artist venues, surrounded by stunning North Yorkshire landscapes and witness artists at work.