York artist Shany Hagan travels to London for King's Coronation

Shany Hagan, who has lived in York for more than 20 years, travelled down to the capital on Friday (May 5) ahead of the Coronation celebrations over the bank holiday weekend.

Ahead of the historic event, Shany painted a picture of King Charles III, which caught the attention of Alight Media who had electronic billboards across the capital - and they wanted to display Shany's painting of King Charles alongside his parents in London on Coronation day.

A police officer on hand to help as people camp out on the Mall (Image: Supplied)

Shany said it was an honour to be selected to be a part of this project - and she travelled down to London to camp out on the Mall to be a part of the celebrations.

Shany said: "We went down on Friday and camped on the Mall. My painting was displayed near Westminster Abbey on an electronic billboard.

"We had a front spot for the whole event - and a national news reporter interviewed me about my painting.

"It was incredible, there was an amazing atmosphere all throughout the night. The police looked after everyone checking up on us through the night.

"It’s history and I was there, amazing. It rained all day but that didn’t bother us at all."

Some of Shany's camping set up on the Mall, along with her painting (Image: Supplied)

Last month, Shany announced that her painting of King Charles has been chosen to go on show in Barcelona in the Art Tunnel display - featuring work from more than 800 artists.

The artist said: "My painting is to be placed in the one of biggest art exhibitions in the world, with 800 artists from 38 countries around the world exhibiting their work.

"My King Charles painting was the chosen artwork. I will be going out to Barcelona on the opening day of this amazing event."

Other paintings in Shany's series included 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.

The King and Queen on the balcony at Buckingham Palace (Image: Shany Hagan)

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.

As previously reported by The Press, some of Shany's work, featuring well-known celebrities such as these, goes on to be sold at auctions to raise vital funds for charities such as Parkinson's UK and children’s cancer charities.

In March, Shany announced she will be painting a portrait of singer Mel B for her to sign so a couple can auction it off to raise funds for their baby.