A jelly bean portrait of The Beatles is catching the attention of shoppers outside Liverpool’s Quay Confectionery store.
The sweet shop, located at the Albert Dock, has been there for over 25 years and has bought the piece of artwork hoping to attract customers. Shop owner Ray Mitchell told JMU Journalism: “The picture is a great work of art. We’re hoping that people will come down to see it and come into the shop and buy some jelly beans.
“It’s already one of the most photographed items at the dock. We’ve had a phenomenal response since it arrived last week.”
Malcolm West, who created the Jelly Belly portrait, explained: “The process is slow and very precise. I develop a rough image and with that complete, I create a tight colour composition which becomes my guide for the portrait.
“I soak the beans in clear glue, wet the painting with more glue, and then slide the appropriately coloured beans into position.”
The gigantic portrait of the music icons took Malcolm six weeks to develop as each bean was individually applied. It consists of more than 15,000 Jelly Belly beans and weighs 50 kilos.
He added: “I treat each bean like a gem, layering each one of the several thousand beans is a very painstaking process. But the effect is very exciting. In the end, I have a piece of Jelly Belly art.”