One of Edinburgh’s most photographed streets and a must see part of the city’s beautiful old town.

This morning I was in town dropping off the first of my Christmas card deliveries to shops on the Royal Mile, and so I had a wander around the old town.

Last week I photographed Victoria Street in the hope of using the photos to sketch from in the comfort of my studio. But there is no comparison for me in sketching from a photo to sketching on location, the angles, colours and overall feel of the sketch is much more alive when drawn right there in the moment.

And so I started to scribble away from the police box on the corner of West Bow and the Grassmarket.

Its always great to meet people passing by when sketching on location too, a colourful mixture of locals, tourists often come up to see what I am doing and say hello. It always adds a little something special to the sketch and my memory of making it, so thanks for that those I met today!

Today’s sketch was drawn with a 0.4 fine liner and a waterbrush, in an A5 sketchpad.