manchester showbiz
Monday, 19th December 2005
Rolf reveals Quenn's birthday portrait
TV star Rolf Harris unveiled a portrait of the Queen today, depicting her smiling and dressed in a bright turquoise outfit. The didgeridoo-playing entertainer painted the image to mark the monarch's 80th birthday next year. In the impressionistic picture, the Queen's teeth are on show as she gives a broad smile. Her hands rest interlocked in her lap as she sits in the yellow drawing room of Buckingham Palace. She is wearing a three-stranded pearl necklace and a brooch specially made for her to mark her late mother's 100th birthday. Harris admitted using his famous catchphrase when chatting to his subject during the sittings. He said: "I think I said somebody's bound to ask me to say `can you tell what it is yet?'. "So I did and we had a bit of a laugh about that."
Stressful The artist revealed that it was stressful trying to get the likeness right in the 100 centimetre by 50 centimetre (40-inch by 20-inch) oil on canvas portrait. He likened his first sketches to resembling a "pork butcher from Norwich". Harris said: "It was a bit stressful when I couldn't get the likeness right. "And the first rough one that I did was exactly that, just a rough idea where the eyes were and the mouth. "It sort of looked like a pork butcher from Norwich. It didn't look anything like the Queen at all." He added: "I had a problem with the teeth, it looked as if the teeth were sitting on the bottom lip. I had to muck about with those teeth over and over again." Harris was filmed painting the Queen throughout the sittings for a BBC1 documentary The Queen By Rolf. It was the first time the entire process of creating one of the Queen's royal portraits has been recorded in this way. Harris chose the bright green outfit from a rail of the Queen's clothes, adding that he wanted her to wear something colourful. He added as he unveiled the image: "I'm thrilled to bits with that. I feel it's a good likeness and shows a relaxation which I haven't seen in many official portraits."
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