Penny travelled to the Barossa last weekend to meet with Maggie and take photographs to base her artwork on.

“I used to watch her show with my son and she seems so nice and genuine and she really is,” Penny said.

“I spent 2.5 hours with her and asked her a lot of questions and then at the end I thought, ‘I’ve come all this way, I may as well ask for a selfie’ and now I’ve got a great one.”

A first time Archibald entrant, Penny said it will be a change from her usual style.

“I’m not a portrait artist by any means but my hope is that it will come out really well but I’ve decided I’ll only enter if  I do a really good job, you may as well do it properly,” she said.

While she usually knows the people she paints, Penny said capturing a well-known personality is important in the Archibald.

“They encourage you to pick someone famous so I thought I’d pick Maggie Beer and do a good job,” she said.

With a busy upcoming schedule including an exhibition at Tallwood that opens the first Thursday in June, Penny said she may miss the June 24 cut off date but plans to enter in 2017 if that happens.

“I think it will take me many hours but sometimes when I get a good idea it all flows so hopefully it just flows out of my fingers,” she said.