Myra John

A key part for me of the magic and joy of blipping is that posting a journal entry occasionally leads to something wonderfully unexpected. When I posted the photo of my Mum on the 100th anniversary of her birth on 23 September it resulted in the arrival two weeks later of this painting of her by my friend and former colleague Will. Many blippers will recognise his inimitable style from his own blip journal under the name of willllwynbedw where he posts photos of his watercolour landscapes and portraits of jazz musicians.

It didn’t arrive out of the blue. Will asked me for permission to paint her based on the studio portrait from 1951 that I used in the blip (that I now know, by the way, was taken at the Festival of Britain). As if I would pass up such an opportunity! And after the completed painting was despatched to us, he thanked me for “allowing me to paint this beautiful lady”. Thank you, Will, I shall always be grateful for this beautiful gift so generously and unexpectedly offered by someone with such a beautiful artistic gift.. Mum will watch over me with love and tenderness in the little room in the refurbished house where I will have my study and work room.

I’ve titled this by her maiden name, Myra John, a surname which links her to the South Wales of her birth. It was an anglophone part of Wales, but she never lost her Welsh accent despite spending her twenties and thirties in England.

Back-blipped on 10 October. I’ve drafted this on the iPad, and will edit it later to include a proper link to Will’s blip journal.