Dear Andy Murray Parenting is like Tennis

The 2016 Australian Open is over and Andy Murray is off to await his new arrival and swot up on parenting so here are some tennis related parenting tips.

Gordon Reid Caricature

Another Australian Open star Gordon Reid who was born in Alexandria close to where I grew up is in the Australian Open final of wheelchair singles and doubles.

If you like tennis star caricatures you should check out my recent version of Johanna Konta as well.

Johanna Konta Caricature

Caricature of Sydney born British tennis star Johanna Konta the 'female Jason Bourne' of many passports (British, Australian, Hungarian) who had an amazing 2016 Australian Open run to the semi final of the women's singles until she was knocked out by Germany's Kerber.

Her success however brought out plenty of comment about her nationalities which lead to her labelling herself as the female Jason Bourne

In Scotland it is Careermas Eve the day before the majority of the working population go back to work.  For those who have enjoyed many days of festive winter break it is not a very inviting prospect.

Mystery of the Sherlock Special

Last night I watched the New Years Day Sherlock special The Abominable Bride which was excellent television but left me wondering what it was all about.
  Last time in 2012 when Sherlock appeared to die falling off a building I had lots of bizarre ideas of what was going on but this time I had to go to Google and Twitter to read what everyone else thought while I sit around until 2017 when Moffat will unveil the next series.

2015 in cartoons

Before we leave 2015 behind here is my wistful look back at my favourite topical/silly cartoons of the year.

1. If at first you don't succeed (January)
Some ancient Scottish history to start the year coupled with a familiar tablet gag.



2. Broadchurch and the Gingerbread man (January)
After lemmings gingerbread men are one of my favourite things to draw in cartoons.
3. Terrible Tory tales about the SNP (April)
I must have drawn half a dozen or more cartoons around the UK General Election and this is the only one I thought hit the mark.

4. Father Ted caricature
I drew quite a few celebrity caricatures this year from Thor to Greg Wallace but since I had to select just one it would be this.

5. Overreacting
A chemistry cartoon for the competition.

6. OK Corral Bake-off
Talking of competitions this is the one cartoon that won this year in CCGB public forum competitions.

7. Greece - the end is Nigh
Before the refugee crisis and terrorism atrocities Greece was the big story at the start of the year with every week deemed to be the end of the the Greek economy/the EU until all of a sudden it dropped out the news when it was sort of resolved.

8. Star Wars VII
The big entertainment news of the year was J J Abrams Star Wars The Force Awakens and whether he would be take it in another direction or not.

9. Davis Cup
With Team GB's run to the final via Glasgow I found myself doing lots of tennis cartoons and caricatures.   While I was pleased with the likenesses of the team I captured (which I shared alot) I quite like this post tournament comment about how the legacy needs to be managed.  Thankfully recently the LTA has been making the right sort of noises about the future.

10. Drone Santa
And to round us off a Christmas cartoon with drones.

So Happy New Year and we'll see what 2016 throws up.

Mutiny on the Board Game

Like many families we have a Christmas holiday board game tradition and like many families it is not always the non-digital nirvana it promises to be especially with more complicated games.  The trick is not exhausting everyone's patience before you even begin the game and if you discover you didn't entirely understand the rules in the middle of the game keep quiet until the end.