Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II for her 80th birthday next year, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.
The sittings this summer will be filmed for a BBC television special to be screened late this year or early in 2006.
Harris, 75, said he hoped to create a painting "that is representational of the way the queen looks and her obvious charm and friendly quality, rather than the very formal."
"I want to get the real person rather than the state image, and I'd like to make my painting more impressionistic than photographic," he added.
A staple of British entertainment television for decades, Harris had hit singles in the 1960s with "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and "Two Little Boys," and went on to host programs on cartooning and art history, as well as the long-running veterinary show "Animal Hospital."