Sir Peter Blake is rather sick and tired of his timeless contribution to the Fab Four�s most fabulous release.

It was 40 years ago today - but Sir Peter Blake just wishes it would go away.

The veteran pop artist created the iconic album cover art for The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band exactly four decades ago, when the famed collage was pieced together in a London studio.

However, now Sir Peter, whose newest work is to be premiered in the 119th Annual Exhibition of the Paisley Art Institute next month, is rather sick and tired of his timeless contribution to the Fab Four's most fabulous release.

Paid only a nominal sum for the collage all those years ago, the artist admits he is irritated by the attention his most famous work attracts.

The 75-year-old told The Herald he would talk about it for one reason - to explain why he has decided not to talk about it again.

"I was paid very little for doing it. And a lot of money was made from it, and I suppose it would have been nice to see some of that over the years," he said.

"It can be annoying to be reminded of it all the time, considering all the other work you have done in your life.

"However, the attention it gets means that it has stood the test of time, and that is rewarding, but I am having more fun now entering my own late period'. I am very busy working and see no reason to stop."

The collage was assembled by Blake and his then-wife, Jann Haworth, during the last two weeks of March 1967 at the London studio of photographer Michael Cooper, who took the cover shots in one three-hour session on March 30.

The artwork was revolutionary at the time, a photomontage of John, Paul, George and Ringo dressed in candy-coloured uniforms, surrounded by a gallery of dozens of celebrities, heroes, villains, obscure thinkers, artists and footballers (including John Lennon's favourite player, Albert Stubbins).

The cover concept was originally conceived by Paul McCartney and Robert Fraser, a London art dealer, as a tableau for the fictitious Salvation Army-style brass band and was rendered into reality by Blake, acknowledged as Britain's leading pop' artist.

Not all of Blake or the Beatles' choices were accepted - EMI rejected three of Lennon's proposals: Jesus, Gandhi, and Hitler.

Now "officially retired" from the art world - "And all its jealousy and ambition," he said - Blake has given three of his new large prints of Found Art to the Paisley exhibition which was first staged in 1876 at the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery.

"I am glad to be part of it. I have always had a soft spot for Scotland," he said.

Born in Dartford in Kent, in 1932, Blake was known for his work using pop-culture logos, pin-ups and masked wrestlers in his paintings.

He was knighted in 2002 for his services to art.

Liz Knox, vice president of the Paisley Art Institute, said: "Having Sir Peter contribute to the show is a great coup for us and we are delighted."
The Annual Exhibition of the Paisley Art Institute runs from May 5 and June 3.