Like many royals before him, the newly crowned King Charles will have had many portraits done over the years. Common choices for artists include materials such as paint or graphite, but now one man has taken things to an entirely new dimension by creating a portrait of the King using his favourite sandwich spread.
Artist Nathan Wynburn wanted to 'raise a toast' to the monarch during Coronation week, and he has done so - quite literally.
The 33-year-old created his artwork using a jar of Marmite and 42 slices of toast. He chose to use the bizarre materials as a tribute to the King's favourite sandwich, which reportedly consists of a fried egg, pesto, gruyere cheese and the famous yeast extract spread.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
“When I found out that the King himself actually loves Marmite as part of his favourite sandwich, that seemed even more fitting to know that he would totally approve of this,” Nathan, from Cardiff said.
It took around two hours to create the artwork, and says the “most tedious part” was actually toasting the bread in his four-piece toaster at his flat.
“If a slice did slightly burn then I always just put it in a darker area of the portrait or scraped off the bits of burnt bread,” he added.
“The Marmite itself allows for a perfect tonal difference in the portrait – it’s quite dark against the colour of the toast, so it allows me to get that contrast that I need for the portrait to pop out.”
Nathan, who appeared on the 2011 series of Britain’s Got Talent, said it was the King’s “distinctive features” helped him create the portrait.
He said: “I think what helps is that everybody knows what he looks like – that can be a bit of pressure at the same time.
“But because he’s got quite a lot of distinctive features, and he’s of an age where it allows the face to have more character, it helped get those features to pop out with the Marmite because it’s such a dark tone – it is perfect against the toasts.
“So, (the King) being so instantly recognisable is a great help for me.”
Mr Wyburn had met Charles when he was the Prince of Wales, with the Queen Consort, and showed them some of the previous works he made using coffee.
He also assured that he and his housemates ate the whole Marmite portrait to ensure there was “no waste”.
READ NEXT:
