Speed painter has a brush with Street's famous faces
Olivier Vergnault
September 29, 2010
Torquay Herald
A SPEED painter has spent the afternoon on the set of Coronation Street as part of the TV show's 50th anniversary. Jen Allen was approached by the show's producers after they saw her work on her website. The 31-year-old artist, who takes between three and five minutes to create a portrait, was asked to paint three of Corrie's best known actors. Mrs Allen, from the St Marychurch area of Torquay, set up her easel outside the Rovers Return pub and spent an hour each painting Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), Ken Barlow (William Roache) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh).
It was part of the show's 50th anniversary festivities which also saw the set dressed up and decorated like a 1950s street party with stalls, multicoloured bunting and a band. Mrs Allen, who has travelled to London, Las Vegas and other far-flung destinations to show off her speed painting skills, said: "It was really good fun — a great experience with a lot of buzz. All the actors were really nice and came to look at my work."
Mrs Allen went up to the Manchester set with her entertainer partner Jay Fortune, 31, a magician and comedian. He said: "As a commission, it was pretty unusual. The whole cast was there, there were TV crews everywhere and interviews going on. It was pretty special."
Mrs Allen said her work usually takes a couple of minutes to complete but on the Corrie set she was given an hour per actor. She added: "It was less hasty than what I'm used to. As a Corrie fan it was something quite special to do. It's not every day you get to be on the set of an institution like that."
Mrs Allen has been involved in painting since she was a little girl and has always wanted to pursue a career in the arts. She has worked on cruise ships and worked in Portugal where some of her work was auctioned to raise money for a local orphanage.
Mrs Allen's portraits of the Coronation Street actors, which were done with acrylic on canvas, will also be auctioned to raise money for the show's own charity.
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The writing of this piece is pish Mr Vergnault... I had to search out the picture and here's her facebook page also - LINK
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Looks like they've crossed it with Strictly Come Dancing.