I recently had the honour of being asked to paint the Queen to mark her momentous 70 year reign. The portrait was for St Ermins Hotel based in Westminster, Central London and was organised through my amazing gallery Degreeart.

I put forward a proposal for the painting which involved a realistic acrylic painting of the Queen in my usual style, with spring colours to reflect the timing of the piece. I wanted a bold colour for the background, so in collaboration with the hotel I opted for a warm aqua to contrast the purple in her outfit as well as mirror the blue in her eyes.

The portrait of Her Majesty was unveiled at the hotel on Wednesday June 1st and I’m told they were beyond thrilled with the finished piece. The timing of the painting was a bit more challenging that usual as I was 7 months pregnant at the time and it was a larger scale piece, but that made the finished result so much more satisfying, knowing I had a little helper on board!

A few days after the painting was revealed I gave birth to my own little Queenie so this portrait will forever have a very special place in my heart.