AN artist from York, who picked up a brush for the first time in 33 years after she had eye surgery, has painted the late Queen using, her favourite non-alcoholic tipple - tea.
Shany Hagan, who has lived in York for more than 20 years, had eye surgery during the Covid lockdowns and decided to start painting again, despite not picking a paintbrush up for 33 years.
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The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was done last year and Shany says the queen saw it, with her now controversial lady-in-waiting, Susan Hussey, writing a thank you letter.
The painting is one of a series of images Shany calls 'Edible Art' which are raising money for different charities.
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"I wanted to try something different to paint for a change and they worked out really good," said Shany.
"The Late Queen Elizabeth was painted with her favourite drink, tea, and food colouring, and that painting will be going to the homeless charity I support.
"The Queen saw the painting before she passed away and wrote me a letter thanking me for donating it to the homeless."
The Queen famously appeared in a sketch drinking tea with Paddington Bear as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations last Summer.
Other paintings in the series include one of late BBC television presenter Harry Gration which was painted with coffee and food colouring and film star Johnny Depp painted was painted with red wine and will be donated to men’s domestic violence charity.
She has also painted actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson using tea which will be going to Sheffield hospital's children’s ward.
And British actor Benedict Cumberbatch saw his painting and described it as 'lovely' in a social media post - this is also being donated to a homeless charity.
Former lady-in-waiting Lady Hussey resigned her role towards the end of last year, and apologised, after she repeatedly asked a black British charity boss where she was from at a palace event for campaigners against sexual violence against women.
As previously reported by The Press, some of Shany's work, featuring well-known celebrities, goes on to be sold at auctions to raise vital funds for charities such as Parkinsons UK and children’s cancer charities.
She said: "I began to paint only thinking it would be a hobby - how wrong was I? Within two weeks of posting my work on social media I started to my amazement receive commissions from all over the world and the biggest stars in the world began to contact me, my very first commission was my all-time hero world champion stunt rider Eddie Kidd.
"I gifted the jacket with my artwork to Eddie as he wanted to auction it for children with cancer, he kept hold of this very special jacket for two years until the right opportunity came along, last Saturday at a celebrity-packed event in London my jacket was auctioned to the highest bidder, the jacket went for a whopping £12,000."
Eddie was paralysed and suffered brain damage following an accident in 1996 and Shany says she has painted several paintings for him and plans to help him again in the near future.
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