Grandfather's house

A little while ago, I had the opportunity to visit the house that I believe my Grandfather spent his childhood years. It was in a quiet little seaside town on the east coast Scotland and the owners at the time had done a beautiful job of restoring it. I love the character that old stone houses and buildings have but this one, because of family history, had special relevance. My Grandfather passed away when I was a young boy so I never really got to know him as well as I would have liked. I remember him as an interesting and intelligent man with a talent for music. He might be the person who first introduced me to cartoons and caricatures as I recall him showing me the funnies in newspapers or drawings that he had collected of people with these elongated noses and distorted eyes. This would inspire me to try and draw cartoons of events at my Grandparents house and caricatures of the two of them which they seemed to get a kick out of. My Grandparents played an important part in my life. While this isn't a cartoon, this one is for them.

The Busker

I saw this busker playing Piano Accordion while travelling around the South of France a few years ago. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to stop and sketch, so I snapped a couple of photos, tipped the gentleman and continued on my way. I remember how the area had a really warm, rustic look and feel about it which was something that I wanted to try and capture in this piece that I have recently completed. I thought that I would experiment a little with pen work over the top of watercolour because I wanted some warm loose tones to come through the crisp linework. The artwork is on a medium texture, cream coloured, archival quality watercolour paper.