Mural painted in Malmesbury as tribute to the Queen

Luke Hollingworth, who runs the Stencil Shed, painted the mural on Wednesday (September 14).

Luke also painted a mural of an emu in the town earlier this year. 

The artist has multiple pieces of work that have popped up across Wiltshire, combining spray paint, street art and carpentry. 

The mural contains an intricate depiction of the Queen’s favourite breed, with the addition of angel wings and a crown in a graffiti style known as “classic graffiti neon”. 

“The idea was brewing over the weekend”, Luke told this newspaper. "I thought of a heavenly corgi, I call her Twinkle. 

“On Wednesday I went out at 4pm and then by 7pm it was finished. A real spur-of-the-moment thing.

“I’m not a royalist but I think we have all been touched by the Queen suddenly not being here and I’m a massive dog lover.”

Luke also mentioned how he was fascinated after reading the Queen used her corgis as an icebreaker in functions, with the four-legged friends breaking the tension and putting her guests at ease.

Luke Hollingworth (Image: Luke Hollingworth)

He said how it made sense to him as he sees dogs being taken into hospitals all the time and it always seems to have such a positive effect.

The artist was extremely lucky when finding a place to paint the mural due to Malmesbury being such a historic town and with a lot of locations being listed. 

He said: “There's an old barn in this field where I had already painted a gorilla, I was going to try that but the sizing didn’t work, and it was just a nightmare. 

“I was walking back after pretty much giving up when I saw this garage-type building. It was already painted a cream colour so I wouldn’t have to prep it at all. It was perfect.

“I was going to have to knock on the doors surrounding it to find who it belonged to, but it was deserted. All of a sudden, bit random, but I bumped into my old hairdresser."

Luke said the coincidence of his hairdresser having cut the hair of the man who owned the building. This meant he was able to get Luke in contact with the owner to organise permission for the mural. 

After a few questions surrounding what the painting of the mural would entail, Luke told us the owner of the building “got quite enthused by it.” 

“We agreed on it and then 10 minutes later I was painting.

“It wasn’t pre-planned, and it was very spontaneous, but sometimes the best things are, and I think it worked out really well.”