A California man who was ordered to keep his boat out of sight has had the last laugh, by commissioning an artist to paint a realistic image of it on the fence that obscures it.

Etienne Constable, from Seaside, California, was told in July last year by local government officials that he had to build a 6-foot fence to hide the boat from view of his neighbors.

But in a light-hearted jibe at officialdom, Constable decided to follow the directive, which said nothing about how the fence should be…