Demarco is credited with being a major force in the introduction of avant-garde art to Scotland and has inspired and promoted generations of Scottish artists. Balmer portrays the artist in typically smart dress with his drawing pen poised and ready. Demarco is bannered by the flags of the nations which are of personal significance: Scotland, Italy, Poland and Hungary. In his pocket is displayed the symbol of the Demarco Gallery. Balmer and Demarco were contemporaries at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1940s. Balmer recalls the day she had to complete the drawing: “Of course it took the larger board to contain this ebullient man who, although he managed to sit in one position for the short periods I required him to do so, his ideas and songs were irrepressible and continual accompaniment”.