Pastels and watercolours will not wash when your idol is Banksy, and over the last two years a masked south Bucks street artist has proved successful in brightening up roads across Europe his way.

Former electrician Paul Letts started to create a buzz across parts of the UK a few years ago when he started leaving his work next to street signs, before posting details of its location and waiting for hundreds of fans to race to the area to try and collect it.

Going by the name of Street Art Drop, the Flackwell Heath resident caused a stir in High Wycombe, with police even called to one drop as rowdy fans tried to get his work.

But looking back at how he burst onto the scene he said one of his greatest achievements was to get ordinary people interested in his style of artwork, and always worked with the authorities to ensure everything was done safely.

The 38-year-old said: “About two years ago it was just a dream, but since then it’s just gone crazy and lots of people are getting involved from kids to adults.

“I think the good thing about it is it is for people who have not appreciated art and they can say I see this in the art.

“The whole drop thing I do has sort of quietened down a bit now, but it went really big at first. I would drop the art by a street sign, put it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and then people would literally go as quick as they can to get there.”

Growing up in Plymouth the street artist hated art classes at school and never envisaged starting a career out of what became a hobby when he was in his mid-twenties.

He said: “I won an art award at school and I was bit annoyed because that wasn’t cool, having to use little pastels and things like that.

“I got in the local paper and people told me to carry it on, but I just wasn’t interested. I rally only discovered it after my Nan died as some of my family were into art and I just started going for it.

“I didn’t know where to start, I didn’t really have a clue, I always tell people this but I always thought acrylic was a Greek island and now I use it all the time for the work.”

Following his exploits across the south of Bucks, Street Art Drops has attempted to go international and has now created work in European countries like Germany, Holland and France, where he created a piece while stood next to the Eiffel Tower.

Over the years he has created about 2,000 pieces of art work and he is showing no signs of stopping as he says he still has lots of big plans for leaving his mark on Wycombe again.

To find out more information follow Street Art Drops on Twitter @streetartdrop or visit www.streetartdrop.com

Street art in the spotlight:

Letts first came to the attention of the BFP in 2013 when he left art work is his home village of Flackwell Heath.

As more of a following began to show an interest he spread out to Wycombe, dropping art in the town as dozens of people became glued to his clue alerts.

The Marlow Free Press also followed his movements as he started going further afield to make the finds even harder for fans.

And in October 2013 he had to defend his unique work when a disturbance in Marlow was reported to police, after fans had got too wrapped up in the treasure hunt.

The BFP also covered a Wycombe charity drop months later as he used his talents to bring a smile to others.

And despite going off the radar in the last year, it looks like Letts is back in business with excited fans hoping to see some more of his work soon.