My Dog Sighs | Portsmouth street artist to create a city-wide treasure hunt in huge Easter weekend giveaway

Since his humble beginnings leaving free art on the streets of Southsea each Friday, he is now recognised as one of the world’s leading street artists.

The internationally-renowned artist’s commissions include works for places as diverse as Amsterdam Street Art Museum, Digital Vision in Shenzhen, China and Coventry Transport Museum. He has painted around the world, shown in international museums and galleries and has work in private collections across the globe including A-list celebrities and sports stars.

The idea for the treasure hunt came as a way of celebrating 20 years and a return to his roots. Over the three days three original hand painted cans, 20-hand painted pebbles, 60 exclusive limited edition prints, 600 specially minted My Dog Sighs coins and 2,000 beer mats will be dispersed around the city – with a third of the items being put out each day.

My Dog Sighs said: ‘Initially there were going to be a couple of cans and some paintings and maybe I could put some “treasure” out for people to find which people could exchange for a chance of winning something.

‘Then I was thinking what I could use for treasure, and thought about having these coins minted, and then I thought we could hide the coins – and the pictures as well.’

From there he wanted to get local businesses involved.

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‘From there it was, maybe I can get some shops or some pubs involved or cafes? I want to get people into those places to spend some money. So if I offer them some treasure, they can hide it in their establishments and share it. That then led to the idea of sitting in the pub with a pint of beer twiddling whatever brewery's beer mat it was and thinking, actually this could be a bit of treasure – a bit of free art.

‘I know my prints are expensive and my fine art isn't accessible to everyone, but if I can provide something which is affordable and fun this is completely accessible as long as you can get out and about.’

It has taken a lot of planning to get to this stage, but now he’s gearing up for the big weekend.

‘I can't put prints in massive tubes around the city because I don't want to cause any problems with authorities with strange looking packages, so I wanted to go with something smaller that's easy to hide around the city.’

He’s also making sure it covers all of Portsea.

‘The big complaint I get is that everything happens in Southsea, so we're trying to change that mindset. I'm going to make sure there's stuff hidden all across the city.

‘And I like the idea that some of these coins probably won't be found straight away – some are going to get put out and maybe in six months time people will see them and go: What's that?’

Follow My Dog Sighs on Facebook and Instagram for hints and clues to the treasures’ hiding places.