MYSTERY surrounds a folder full of landscape watercolour paintings which was discovered on a bus.

David Dalziel, from Newhaven, came across the beautiful artworks on the number 12 service and he is keen to try and trace the artist and reunite him or her with their work.

The colourful paintings feature beautiful landscapes and buildings – many of which can be identified as famous Sussex views.

Striking paintings of Seaford Head, Beachy Head, Newhaven Harbour and Brighton seafront are all included in the folder which was found on the evening of April 19.

Mr Dalziel, said it must have been “disheartening” for the owner to lose their work and he told The Argus he just wants to help the owner.

The 48-year-old said: “I was out for Sunday lunch and a few beers and was coming back on the number 12 bus after getting on outside the Sea Life Centre in Brighton.

“I found the folder and no one sitting down claimed them so I told the bus driver I was going to keep hold of it.

“I opened it when I got home it looks like an artist of Brighton painting pictures of the area.

“I would just like to give it back to them. I would think it must be quite upsetting.”

The American Express worker also took to Facebook in an effort to find the artist – posting a picture of a painting of Newhaven from the Downs.

The page was shared nearly 4,000 times as people across Sussex tried to track down this mystery artist.

Mr Dalziel said: “There are landscapes and some local buildings. There is the harbour at Newhaven, a church, and I do not recognise quite a lot of them.

“I quite like them but I am not an art critic – some of them I could see hanging on my wall.

“You would expect to find something like a handbag or a mobile phone on the bus – not something like this.”

FACTFILE

SUSSEX’S striking landscapes have provided inspiration for numerous famous artists. JMW Turner was a frequent guest of the Earl at Petworth House and painted landscapes of the countryside – some of which still hang at the National Trust property.

John Constable was a frequent visitor to Brighton and painted a famous image of the beach, titled A Sea Beach, which was auctioned off last year.

Actor and director Noel Coward painted Off Shore Shoreham in 1950 – an allergy meant he had to wear plastic gloves while painting with oil. Surrealist painter and war artist Paul Nash lived in Iden near Rye and the marshes nearby became the setting for a number of his paintings.