Peter's painting brings Cotherstone's Fox and Hounds pub to life

THE talented work of a Teesdale artist has brought the exterior of a popular village pub to life.

Renowned artist and author Peter Collyer, 64, spent a week creating a trompe l'oeil-style mural on the front of the Fox and Hounds Country Inn, in Cotherstone.

The 3D artwork, which was painted using ordinary artists’ acrylic paint, includes two hounds and a fox drinking a pint of beer in what appears to be a blocked up window.

Landlady Nichola Swinburn said: “Peter was showing me some of his work. He had done a mural for a friend and painted a fantastic scene for them to look out of their window onto. It just progressed from there.”

Mr Collyer’s love of art began at an early age and after attending art college and studying for a degree in fine art, he went on to enjoy 20 years as a full-time watercolour artist. He has also written and illustrated four published books with another waiting to be printed. His most recent book Rain Later, Good, is the award-winning story of Mr Collyer’s journey around the shipping forecast areas.

Mr Collyer moved to Cotherstone from Wiltshire two years ago with his wife Joy. He said: “I have always got a kick out of making something look real and I have always tried to disguise the brush strokes.

“When I work in watercolour it is just small paintings. I have always worked either very big or very small. I like to do something with impact. If it is small it will draw you in and that can have the same impact as something on a grand scale. That is the first time I have painted something so public.”

After repainting the outside of the pub to ensure he had a good surface to work on, Mr Collyer spent three days drawing the design and a further four days painting it.

He said: “I wanted to do something that wasn’t traditional but was relevant to the Fox and Hounds. We love the pub. The idea was from the outside it would show how the pub was different to all the others.

“I usually use watercolour but that is obviously not. People just wanted to stop and chat about it while I was working on it.

“For us the pub is one of the village treasures. It is special and I wanted to show that it is by doing this. It is unique.”

Mr Collyer is now considering the possibility of adding a bird in flight to the gable end.

Ms Swinburn added: “I love it. Everyone does. We’ve had some lovely feedback about it. Even when Peter was painting it was very social. People were stopping to talk and he even had dogs modelling for him. It does look very realistic.”