Geoffrey Lehmann and I were invited by August, his eldest son, to join the family celebrating Charles Blackman’s ninetieth birthday to be celebrated by family in the master’s rest home at Rose Bay.

Through the seventies and eighties Charles and I had painted together and as we drove down the hill memories flooded back of joyous conversations and insights of his infinitely playful mind

It was the day of the City to Surf, August 12, so we had to descend from the heights of Bellevue Hills to avoid the runners.