Artist in record breaking attempt to paint Lenny Henry
A Shropshire artist was among 149 invited to take part in a world record attempt to paint Dudley's most famous son.
Fine artist Beverley Fry was invited by Sky Arts to join scores of other painters to do a portrait of Sir Lenny Henry in under 60 minutes.
The project was part of a Guinness World Records attempt to see how many artists they could get in the same venue in an hour to paint a portrait of Lenny.
The attempt was part of the celebrations to mark ten years of the Sky Arts show Portrait Artist of the Year.
Lenny’s portrait by Morag Caister, last year’s Portrait Artist winner, is currently on display in the newly reopened National Portrait Gallery.
Before the sitting, Sir Lenny Henry said: “I loved sitting for Portrait Artist of the Year in 2022 and it was a real honour to take part.
"This year is a little different, but no less momentous. I’m so grateful for the chance to be invited back to play my part in what will hopefully be a new world record for the history books.”
The event, at Lindley Hall in London on Saturday, saw nearly 150 amateur and professional artists take part, including previous show contest Much Wenlock's Beverley Fry.
She said: "It was amazing, Lenny was a delightful model and a lovely man.
"An hour is crazy short time but we all did it. And on this joyful occasion I met a fellow artist from my Sky Arts Portrait artist of the year I was in, in 2018."
She added following the sit in with Sir Lenny, they artists then painted, David Jacoby, Kirstie Wark and Meera Syal.
The world record attempt to paint Sir Lenny Henry is set to feature on the next series of Portrait Artist of the Year.
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