BUS TO WORK

​The X95 bus runs from Edinburgh to Carlisle along the winding A7 road—optimistically signposted as the "tourist route". For over 20 years, I’ve been a regular passenger, commuting between my home in Scotland and Carlisle in England, a journey of around 20 miles. At some point, after countless trips spent idly watching the landscape pass by, I turned my attention inward—to my fellow passengers—and reached for my sketchbook. Drawing mid-commute turned an ordinary journey into a dynamic artistic endeavour.
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More than any other exercise, these many (MANY) observational sketches have shaped my approach to and relationship with drawing, allowing me to explore both traditional analogue techniques and digital image-making using an iPad and Procreate. For several years, I have documented and shared these drawings on Instagram, and I have also self-published collections—titled On the X95—which have travelled to drawing enthusiasts across the globe.

The work I share here is just a small glimpse of a much larger collection. Over the years, my approach has gradually evolved—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. At times, I’ve aimed for a precise, naturalistic depiction, while at others, I’ve embraced a more expressive, gestural style, playing with proportion and energetic line work. To make navigating my work easier (for both you and me), I’ve curated these pages chronologically.