A childhood obsession with a hospital wall painting has come full circle for Blackpool artist Adam Salisbury, who has now painted almost 30 walls at Victoria Hospital after social media helped turn his art into a career.

As a boy, Adam said he was fixated on the Thomas the Tank Engine mural at his local hospital and would ask his mum to take him to see it whenever he visited.

Three decades later, Thomas is gone from the walls of Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital, but Adam, now 37, has painted almost 30 of them himself. Videos of his work have been viewed millions of times online.

He said he was “proud as punch” to bring “colour, calm and hope to places that need it most”, including a mural of a Blackpool tram dedicated to his grandfather.

Adam said his talent was picked up early. He said his first teacher told his mum he was going to be a great artist.

His grandfather, Robert Worthington, regularly bought him paints and brushes, while his mum, Maureen, gave him space to paint on lining paper left on his bedroom wall.

“As a young boy I painted dinosaurs, Goofy and even a Tasmanian devil, whatever I was into,” he said to the BBC.

He went to art college and said he earned distinctions for his artwork, but struggled with the academic side and only just passed the course.

After the birth of his first son, he put art on hold and went into retail, later becoming a supermarket manager.

That changed in 2015 when he posted a Facebook video of himself painting dinosaurs in his son’s bedroom. He said it received more than 1,000 likes and enough positive comments to reignite his ambitions.

Adam said it “lit a fire inside me” and pushed him to chase his dream.

He painted a mural at a gym, then began getting work painting bedroom murals, sharing that work on social media. He said it had “snowballed” from there.

In 2018, a TikTok video of a Harry Potter mural he was commissioned to paint in a child’s bedroom was shared millions of times and helped him gain about 500,000 followers.

The following year, a Facebook video showing his Beauty and the Beast mural in a girl’s bedroom was seen by a nurse, who invited him to show his work at Victoria Hospital.

Since then, he has had five commissions at the hospital, funded by Blue Skies Charity, which supports patient care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Blackpool tram mural is especially personal, as it is dedicated to his grandfather, who died the day after Adam’s 19th birthday.

Adam said his grandad once told him: “Your talents are in your hands and you are going to change the world.”

Janet Barnsley, from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said Adam’s work had transformed spaces across the hospital.

“Being in hospital can sometimes be a daunting experience, and these artworks help to create more welcoming environments,” she said.

Nicci Hayes, from Blue Skies Charity, said it was “incredibly proud” of the effect the murals had had across the hospital.

She said: “Art plays such a vital role in transforming clinical environments into warm, welcoming spaces that truly lift the spirits of our patients, visitors, and staff.”

Adam also trained as a tattooist to help pay for his canvases and murals. He travelled to Bolton for an apprenticeship with tattooist Danny Robinson, who appeared on MTV’s Just Tattoo Of Us.

In 2023, he opened his own studio, The Inked Artist, in Cleveleys, where he divides his time between tattooing and art.

His videos of celebrity canvases have also drawn attention online, including paintings of Luke Littler, Will Smith and Eminem.

He said it was one of the best days of his life when Smith, one of his favourite actors, shared one of his videos in 2021.

Adam said he wants Eminem to sign a painting he made of the rapper so he can auction it for a charity chosen by the star.

“I don’t want money,” he said. “I just want to do good and bring colour to people’s lives.”

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