.

I once referred on this website to the mural that now proudly adorns the wall of the PICKET in Liverpool city centre as "the difficult second album". In many aspects, I now believe my initial brief description was right - and wrong.

I believe I was right in terms of the scale of the target wall, the logistic difficulties in co-ordinating such a huge work of art, battling with the unpredictable weather conditions, and of course the pressures of delivering a spectacular piece of art that would not only rival the previous Beatles mural, but exceed it in terms of complexity, diversity of themes and quality...

Well actually forget the last point, as the skills of the gifted artists have never been in doubt!! But to use a musical analogy (without at all detracting from the brilliance of the LMP's first work); if the first mural can be likened to a 3-minute rock and roll classic, the second would be more like a sweeping 2 hour opera epic...

Whereas the first mural was a mainly black and white cult classic, this second one was to be more of a techni-colour Panavision Hollywood blockbuster.. Where I can be proved "wrong" is simple: despite all the challenges faced in such a short timescale (1 week), there was from day 1 an admirable sense of unity and determination. This, coupled with an fantastic "can-do" attitude, made the production of the mural a truly memorable and pleasurable experience.

Massive credit must go to all involved - obviously starting with TLMP itself and the "Belfast Boys", who brought their unparallelled vision and craft on board with their customary flair and quiet brilliance which cannot be highlighted enough. All praise also to "Big Phil" and his staff at the PICKET, who were totally accommodating and great fun, and sought to get involved in all aspects of the project. Much laughter and positivity ran through the group, even during the two torrential downpours which at one point threatened to destroy all the hard work. I lost count of the amount of times "not a problem" crept into conversations during that hectic 7 days - 3 words that sweetly summed up for me the collective mood of everyone we had helping out, including vitally, local artists who gave their own time up to be a part of something special. At last count, I think I counted 18 separate elements that make up the final mural, each of which can be considered true works of art in their own right.

What an achievement - something everyone can be truly proud of. Personally, it was a thrill to have a hand in something that will be discussed, studied, photographed and cherished for many years to come, not only by the people of Liverpool but by people from around the world - How many times in your life can you lay claim to something of that scale?

Looking forward to the next one, All the best, Fred