Since being a little boy, I have always had the greatest admiration for HM Queen Elizabeth II. This was added to by my love of stamps, on which her face is featured on every British one – (and many other countries too, throughout the Commonwealth).
The Queen has been a source of constancy throughout my whole life, which in this ever-changing world has also been a source of comfort and permanency and strength for me.
So, as you can imagine, I have loved the last couple of weeks in which Queen Elizabeth’s historic reign of seventy years has been celebrated in the form of a wonderful and uplifting ‘trooping of the colour’, a service of thanksgiving, a star-studded concert and an astounding and very vivacious pageant. I have loved every minute of the Jubilee celebrations and I have sat in my bunting and flag-festooned house, (enjoying the largest pot of tea) and watched every aspect of it. Gosh, when the pageant was going through the Mall, I could not believe all of those wonderful outfits and floats – the amount of work that has gone into that amazing piece of history! Oh, if anyone can tell me where I could get one of those giraffe outfits (the ones with the top hat etc), I would be very grateful 🙂
I could write about this Jubilee for England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but I will do my best to keep this blog post succinct. Of course, the highlight for me, apart from the aeroplanes ‘forming’ 70 in the sky (!) was the little scene where Paddington Bear meets the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
I was so touched when I saw this little cameo of the Queen and Paddington; it was so charming and endearing, as well as gentle and humorous. Being a big fan of both Her Majesty the Queen and teddy bears in general, I could not pass up the opportunity to do a little, gentle illustration, featuring two of my favourite personages, some Union Jack bunting, a stand of marmalade sandwiches, some cups of tea, some musical spoons and an inquisitive (or is he hungry?) Corgi. I was also encouraged by my students ‘to capture this special moment’ on paper.
A friend who saw this drawing, when I completed it, today, said, “Oh, you must send that to the Queen”. I am not really sure it’s an illustration ‘fit for a Queen’, but, who knows, I might just post it off to Buckingham Palace…but, one will have to wait and see… Thank you, Ma’am…
Quinlyn Nixon Art 