Loyalist killer Michael Stone was today preparing for the first public showing of his art, featuring work valued at up to £25,000 sterling.
Thousands of people were expected to visit the exhibition of 25 paintings and sculptures which opens tomorrow in loyalist east Belfast.
Stone, who served 12 years of a sentence for the murders of six Catholics, said he hoped it would provide a positive example as feelings ran high over controversial parades and the peace process.
Stone, (46), who lists Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst as his artistic influences, said at a preview showing: "I think it will be a calming influence.
"It provides a quiet atmosphere, people will be able to wander about and chill out."
Stone began to paint when jailed for the 1988 killings of three men in a gun and grenade attack at an IRA funeral in west Belfast - as well as three other sectarian murders. He now supports the peace process.
The exhibition of brightly-coloured contemporary work includes paintings he produced in prison with the canvasses made from prison furnishings and linen.He said: "I lived with it. Some of it I slept on. There's a wee bit of history behind most of the prison stuff.
"There was escapism with the art, especially during the lockup."
Stone has claimed that among the buyers of his work are political and business figures from as far afield as the US.
PA