ABERPORTH’S very own ‘Banksy’ has been out on the village streets and delighting both young and old with his street art cartoons during the coronavirus lockdown.

A series of mice pictures have appeared on walls, pavements and buildings around Aberporth over the past few weeks, courtesy of artist Peter Taylor, who has been adopted by locals as their very own ‘Aber Banksy’.

“I have had an amazing response and children have enjoyed searching for them during their exercise while in lockdown. It is all a bit of fun and has helped to raise people’s spirits,” said Peter, who was originally inspired by a street artist David Zinn's work in Detroit.

“I am an artist anyway and saw that children were going back and forth with their parents taking exercise and looking at the teddy bears that are in people’s windows.

“I thought it would be a really nice idea to do something so for the first one I painted a little cartoon picture on the kerb at the front of the house.

“Someone posted it on Facebook and it just went bonkers. There was a huge response and people were bringing their children to see it.

“It all took off from there and I decided to carry on and do a few more and people are just loving the narrative of the mice taking over the village. If I don’t do one every week, people are asking what is happening.”

Peter lives with partner Ann Smith, who is originally from Aberporth. They met in Cardiff and would regularly come to visit her father and Peter grew to love the village and the friendly people.

"Ann's parents met in Aberporth village hall and were married in Cardigan. Her father, Colin was in the Royal Navy and his ship was in dock in Fishguard, her mother Meg had a nannying job for the Aspinals' four daughters who lived in the Ship pub," said Peter

There are currently eight pictures dotted around, with the latest one going up on the side of the village hall.

Peter is looking to do around 10 in total before returning to him main job.

The cartoon style of the pictures is a far cry from what the 58-year-old artist would usually produce from his recently converted studio in the house garage.

“It is nothing like what I would usually do,” added Peter.

“I am normally a fine art and still life painter, landscapes and abstracts in oil, but this is fun.

“I think about what I am going to do in the week and sketch out the design on paper to see if it works out.

“Then I will sneak outside and it normally takes about two to three hours to complete. Then it’s up to the kids to find them. I don’t specifically say where it is and just drop a hint and it turns into something like a treasure hunt.”

As for his new tag of ‘Aberporth Banksy’, Peter said: “I don’t relate myself to anything like him. This is just purely a messing about thing and a bit of fun but the name does seem to have stuck."