Chorley artist whose tribute to the late Queen featured on the front page of paper remembers Lily Savage

Welsh born artist Angela Davies, 49, who now lives in Heskin, has paid tribute to the 67-year-old much loved TV personality who passed away on Tuesday, March 28, by painting a faceless picture of his flamboyant alter ego - drag queen Lily Savage. Upon hearing the news of his passing, self taught Angela who started painting in lockdown, decided to pick up her paint brushes once more to honour a man who brought a smile to many faces.

Angela, who mainly draws pet portraits and also works part time in Lawrence Hunt's Spar alongside caring for her 93-year-old father-in-law Tom, told the Post: “When I heard the news of his passing on social media I just broke down crying. I have been a huge fan of his over the years from his pet programmes to Blind Date so I decided to do a piece on his alter ego Lily Savage. I wanted to share this with the wider community as Paul was a great showman whom everybody loved and more so his alter ego Lily Savage, I am sure everybody has fond memories of them. He was extravagant. His clothing was amazing, the dresses were wonderful. So it was nice to do a piece on Paul O’Grady as he was a very genuine person.”

Previous to this she had a piece on the cover of Chorley and Leyland Guardian of the Queen, Prince Philip and the corgis walking up the stairs to heaven entitled "Until we meet again" back in September 22 shortly after her own mother's passing and the Queen's Funeral. Angela, who also has a Facebook page called Bespoke Heskin Arts by Angela Davies, added: “The Queen was such a huge part of our nation and so I wanted to create my memorial piece for her. My mother Susan Day, 71, was a really good artist and so I picked up the craft from her. I think focussing on a tribute to the Queen at the time helped me a lot with my own grief as my mum loved the Queen and was massively proud of me, she was my biggest fan so it was important to me to pour my whole heart into creating something that was fitting to both my mother and the Queen.

“My studio is my respite. My favourite portrait is that of two spaniels called Jack and Ronnie which can take anything from 20 hours to 70 hours. I have been drawing on and off now for about 25 years. I do mostly pet portraits but have started branching out into faceless characters. It’s a massive passion of mine. It’s something that my mother helped me grow with. My mum was a huge fan of my work and I would like to carry on doing it for her and myself. Her memory lives on through her art and mine. “

If you would like to view more of Angela’s work CLICK HERE.