Being with Joan Eardley

This new book about one of my art heroes, Joan Eardley, written by Christopher Andreae, arrived in the post yesterday.
I'd seen it in PDF form already as I'd written about it for the current issue of Homes & Interiors Scotland magazine.
The book, published in April by Lund Humphries, is gorgeous with a fantastic array of her paintings together with family photographs. Many have never been seen before.
Christopher, who has been writing about art since the 1960s, has done a fine job of paying homage to Joan while seeing the bigger picture of her as a complex individual.
He also addresses the 'open secret' of Joan's sexuality for the first time. Times have changed for gay women since the far off 1950s & 60s.
I'd love to have written this myself. It's something Christopher and I have shared a joke about over coffee.
Perhaps to comfort me, he told me this needn't be the only book on Joan. There is room for another.
We'll see...
PS As well as the book, there are two exhibitions coming up of Joan's work. The first is at the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh from April 3 and the second is at The Portland Gallery in London from May 1