A former Manwoodian has painted a new sign for the King’s Head pub, replacing the 30-year-old one.

Landlord Graham Stiles was looking for a way to replace the faded and weather-beaten sign on his Beach Street pub in Deal, when he was introduced to Edward Spencer.

The painter, 20, had just completed a foundation year at the Royal Drawing School in London, having taken the Exhibition Award at the final show.

He had developed his skills as a fine artist and was more than happy to take on the challenge. The original picture is a detail of the coronation portrait of King George III painted by Allan Ramsay in 1761.

Edward spent six weeks over the summer completing the pair of paintings. After some research on the processes involved with classic portraiture, the work began with an initial sketch.

Then he used an undercoat in raw umber before applying skin tones. Hand painting the lettering was a new challenge that Edward had not attempted before.

After drying for five months, four coats of varnish were applied to protect the paintings from the weather, and the new signs were hung on Wednesday, December 21, just in time for Christmas.

Mr Stiles said: “This was a wonderful Christmas present and I’m delighted with the new signs.”

Mr Spencer added: “I really enjoyed the challenge of this commission, I’d never done anything like it before. This isn’t the sort of art I make in my own practice at the moment, but I relished the chance to test my skills in producing a figurative copy of a classic portrait. I’m really pleased with the final result and they look great hanging outside the pub having waited several months for the paint to dry properly before I could varnish them. It’s a great honour to have my work displayed so publicly in my home town.”

Edward is now studying Fine Art at Falmouth University.

More of his artwork can be found at: edwardspencerblog.wordpress.com.