A mural of Her Majesty The Queen has appeared almost-overnight on a Welsh town high street. Electrical engineer-turned-street artist Steve 'Jenks' Jenkins knew he wanted to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II as soon as he heard of her sad passing last week, so dashed to Bridge Street in Port Talbot, a street where graffiti and street-art is legally permitted, and soon began painting his mural.
After putting in around 17 hours of painting over the weekend, Jenks finished his tribute mural on Sunday - and it's already grabbed the attention of hundreds of people from Port Talbot and beyond. For more stories about news in Port Talbot, go here.
Explaining what inspired him to paint the mural of Her Majesty, 48-year-old Jenks said: "She was so well thought of, she had an amazing length of service, so I wanted to honour that. I started on Friday, did more painting on Saturday and went back on Sunday to finish a few bits off.
"It's shaped like a [money] note, the '96' is for her age when she died," he said. "I've gone for turquoise and blue colours rather than the normal reds, because she often wore blue and turquoise, I think they were her favourite colours. Her corgis are on there and there's a horse, because she obviously loved horses, and I've painted a pigeon because she was patron of the Pigeon society [The Royal Pigeon Racing Association]. She was just so well thought of, I had to paint her, we'll never have this [70-year-reign] again."
Jenks' painting has had an "amazing" reaction from people, he said. And some people even phoned him at the weekend to ask him if he planned to paint a mural of the Queen, so were pleased to know he was already in the process of painting one.
Jenks shared a photo of his mural on his Facebook page and on the ARTwalk Port Talbot group and received hundreds of likes. The ARTwalk group celebrates street art pieces painted in and around Port Talbot - we spoke to the organiser of the group a year ago, you can read our interview here.
Explaining the mural, Jenks said: "Here’s my tribute painting to the Queen! What a remarkable woman to serve the length of time that she did. Let's hope King Charles can carry on to the same standard."
He continued: "I've based the idea around 96 pound note (due to her age) most of the colours have been used on other notes so I went with turquoises and blues as those are colours she used to wear. I included her beloved corgis, a racing horse and a racing pigeon as she was an important figure in each of these associations and shared a love herself.
"The note design idea came from us all using this currency and being close to this image everyday. For lots of people this is the closest they have come to the Queen and it is instantly recognisable.
"This is located in Port Talbot at a legal paint spot called Bridge Street (SA13 1AG) if anyone would like to go and see it, along with some other amazing art (about 12+ other pieces) in this section under the M4 motorway."
Jenks was an electrical engineer for more than 20 years before he got furloughed during the pandemic. It was then, during the 2020 Covid lockdown, that he picked up a paintbrush and started painting striking murals in his home town of Llanelli to help lift people's spirits during the challenging and isolating lockdowns.
"I've always been interested in drawing and art but it was always a weekend activity, but then I was furloughed from my job in Swansea. A mate asked me decorate their gate and then more people saw the piece and asked me to do something," he told us at the time. "I was social distancing and on my own so it really made lockdown easier for me, it's been a tough time for everyone but getting out and about and seeing people's reactions to my pieces has really helped me during lockdown."
Gradually, more and more people in Llanelli and the wider South Wales region began to know his name - so much so that he has decided not to return to work as an electrical engineer and is now working as a street artist full-time.
Earlier this year, he completely transformed the look of a village hall in Carmarthenshire with an incredible painting paying tribute to Wales' mining history. He explained: "A lady name Cheryll Sedgwick messaged me and told me they would like a mural. It was originally going to be on a rugby theme as Barry John is from the village, but after chatting with the rest of the committee I think the mining theme came out on top. So the itinerary was for an image of a miner and a colliery with some text from the working man song or along those lines.
"I dug out some images and put them together and they supplied the text. I made double sure that everything was spelt correctly as I don’t speak Welsh myself and I didn’t want to unknowingly put anything offensive there - I could have been chased out of the village or started a riot! So, over the course of three days I painted it without anyone really seeing a design or really knowing what I was going to put on there. It’s great to have trust like that on a painting.
"The reception of the locals passing while I was painting it was great. I did hear some sad stories about lost relatives to the mining industry from passers-by and it seemed as time went on as if it triggered both positive and heartfelt emotions with people. It really felt as if it fitted the village and indeed the wall it was being painted on. An extra addition at the end was the gorse plant from which part of the village name 'neithin' comes from."
To keep up to date with Jenks' latest artworks and murals, follow 'JenksArt' on Facebook.
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