Shannon’s World’s Rockin’

Here’s the story about her painting, “A Hard Day’s Night / The Album” (John, Paul, George, and Ringo) taken from the movie, A Hard Day’s Night.

I sat, watched the movie, freeze-framed, and sketched. The original painting actually includes all four faces on one 36” x 36” canvas. It’s main placement was for the “A Hard Day’s Night / The Album” room of The Hard Day’s Night Hotel in Liverpool, England. They became separate pieces when it was decided they would become the second logo and yet again when 4 of the 8 images appearing on the building, embedded into the structure of the Hotel, were chosen for the timeline. This final decision was made only a few months before the Grand Opening.

It all started with an unfinished plan and a naked Beatle-building. You see, way back in the beginning, a timeline was made up by Bill Heckle, owner of the Cavern Club and one of the visionaries of the original Hard Day’s Night Hotel. Bill wanted a timeline somewhere on the front of the building, but it never had its rightful place, as it never worked artistically by itself. After studying the front of the building, I came up with the idea to use the “A Hard Day’s Night / The Album” faces and surround them with the timeline. The really cool part (I thought) was to have the pieces embedded on the front of the building, so as to actually make them part of the structure. The construction team and new owners wanted my images to be embossed on copper. I said, “Absolutely not! I do not want a coppersmith to do an interpretation of my work”.

After fighting hard for weeks, they gave me the chance to discuss my idea. After hearing my thoughts in great detail, all were willing to give me a shot. The pieces would be made of 5’ high black granite and my art would be lasered into the stone; 8 pieces of stone all together to include the timeline, 4 faces on the left side of the main doors and 4 faces on the right (The younger Beatles from 1964 would be left and the older Beatles from 1970 would be to the right). After seeing the finished product on the building, owner #1 (who remains invisible) personally called me to say it was magnificent and he loved it. Again, another time stealing idea that worked out magically.

And yet, there was one other spectacular thing in my life with these four famous painted faces … the famous “Great Beatles Wall”. When the Hard Day’s Night Hotel was being built there was a grand wall that protected the construction from the Paparazzi and Beatles collectors. Guess which images were larger than life on this great wall? Maybe that is why the wall was so great, after all.