From Liverpool Echo...

EIGHT artists have been selected to produce portraits of some of the greatest Merseysiders in history.

The gallery of the famous forms part of the ECHO’s Spirit Of Liverpool campaign, run in association with Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank.

Altogether, pictures of 10 category finalists will be unveiled at World Museum Liverpool on May 24

John Kneen from Anfield has already won an ECHO competition to paint veteran comic Ken Dodd.

Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank is chosing an artist to portray another finalist, Meccano inventor Frank Hornby.

But today, the competition co-ordinators, Liverpool artists’ agency Dot-art, revealed the names of the eight Merseyside artists they have commissioned to portray the other shortlisted names.

Dixie Dean, Everton FC’s legendary goal-scorer, will be painted by Paul Francis, a designer, whose recent work combines elements of pop culture, advertising and satire.

William Gladstone, four times prime minister, is the subject for Liverpool John Moores fine art graduate Roy Munday, whose painting, Liver Buildings at Sunset, is used by the Liverpool Culture Company on merchandise.

The Beatles are being immortalised by former Liverpool College of Art student Val Robinson, already a specialist in portraiture. Val has already won first place in the 2004 Wirral open painting competition.

James Mawdesley, human rights campaigner, is being portrayed by photographer Stephanie de Leng. Stephanie started out as travelled as a photographic fashion model: “Gradually, I moved to the other side of the camera,� she says.

Steve Binns, the Liverpool city guide, is being painted by Joe Thompson, a former teenage member of the Scots Guards, whose early painting was inspired by copying his father’s sketches. His recent large-scale works reflect his travels in India.

Janet Hemingway, director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, is the subject for John Sutherst, whose work also includes landscapes as well as flower and figure studies.

Brian Jacques, the author and broadcaster, is being portrayed by Micheline Robinson, a French Canadian artist who now lives in Merseyside. Micheline has been producing commissioned work and taking part in group exhibitions for 12 years.

Father Francis O’Leary, founder of Jospice International, is the subject for Parabhen Lad, another LJMU graduate, who likes to experiment in producing colour and textural combinations that reflect the beauty of nature and change.

All next week, ECHO readers will be making the final vote in the Spirit of Liverpool contest.