Amazing £600 to £10,000 valuation of Dales artist's painting

Pateley Bridge’s Alister Colley, official artist for the Tour de France in Yorkshire in 2014, was amazed to learn of the huge rise in the price of his painting of the woods near Swinsty reservoir.

Called Forest Landscape - Swinsty, it was one of 18 paintings of this local beauty spot Colley painted in 2006 using the pointillism technique made famous by the French post-impressionist painter Georges Seurat.

Alister said: “I hadn’t actually seen the painting for years. I was very surprised at the news.

“My career has gone from strength to strength over the last decade and the owners of these early works may not realise what they now have.”

The painting only resurfaced after its owners contacted Zeitgeist Fine Art, the gallery in Pateley Bridge owned by Alister and his wife Claire.

The intention was to sell the large landscape painting after moving house and down-sizing.

But the couple were shocked to discover its growth in value and promptly decided to keep it.

The painting in question is an early work painted before Alister’s distinctively colourful and quirky style developed fully.

It received a retail valuation in excess of £8000 and an insurance valuation of approximately £10,000.

All of the other paintings in the series were originally sold through a gallery in Knaresborough but there are no records of the details of the sales. They are all currently in private ownership.