AN ARTIST is furious after vandals defaced a mural she spent all summer painting.

Sara Le Roy discovered her artwork had been covered in graffiti on Wednesday morning.

The 38-year-old, who owns Le Roy Art Gallery in Bond Street Cottages, Brighton, did the painting in the alleyway to draw attention to the gallery.

Vandals sprayed a large block of letters over a picture of a black dragon, the main feature of the mural.

Sara, who lives in Brighton, said: “I was so shocked when I discovered what had happened.

“I hand-painted it with acrylic and oil paint and it took me the entire summer last year to finish. The work cost about £400.

“It will now cost about £200 to get rid of the tags and I will have to re-paint everything from scratch.”

Sara opened her 3D art gallery, formerly a fisherman’s cottage, last August.

She is originally from The Netherlands and had lived in London before moving to Brighton. She said: “I put in so much effort in that mural, I am not just upset about the cost of removing the graffiti but it’s the time it will take to redo it.

“I’m just a painter running a small gallery. I only painted the walls to attract people to the gallery as it’s tucked down the alleyway.

“I got a lot of positive feedback from people about my artwork but it’s completely ruined now.”

“Bond Street is generally a nice place but the alleyways have been problematic.

“We have seen people use needles and it’s not very safe.”

Sara’s paintings in her shop have caught the attention of Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon.

Last November, she received the visit of a lifetime when the Academy Award winner went in her shop and bought several artworks.

Sara said: “I was first visited by a well-known make-up artist, Michelle Johnston. At the time I didn’t know who she was. She said she really liked my art work and told me she would come back with a friend.

“The next day Michelle came back and, to my surprise, the friend was Susan Sarandon. I couldn’t believe one of Hollywood’s top actresses was standing inside my shop.

“She was shooting a movie near Brighton and it was the weekend so the filming crew was taking a break. She bought eight prints of Tinkerbell, Ariel, a dwarf and a few unicorns.

“My paintings mainly consist of modern revisions of traditional fairytales, sometimes with dark elements. You need to wear red and blue glasses to see the 3D effects.

“She came in the second time to buy a Snow White painting.”