Mystery "Mick" at Smallbridge

Mick at Smallbridge

A few years ago Mick was doing some painting and decorating at a place called Smallbridge Hall in Bures. There was a lot of work to be done and the then owner, an Australian called Greg, had quite a team of people working for him. He had a guest staying with himself and his wife; I think her name was Libby; the guest was an artist. His first name was Henry.
One day Henry asked Mick if he could paint a portrait of him. Mick thought he was joking but Henry was serious. He said Mick's face was full of character; Mick's reply to this was "What you really mean is I'm bleeding ugly!
Over the course of a few days Henry took lots of photographs of Mick regaled in his decorators "whites", paintbrush in hand and then proceeded to paint the portrait.

Mick pulled away from that particular job for a while as he had already promised his services on other jobs and when he went back to Smallbridge Hall, Henry had left.
Greg had decided to sell the the Hall and move back to Australia; I think to buy a ranch but told Mick that the painting had been sold by Henry in Bermuda before Greg sold the Hall and went to Australia and that is all I know.

Why am I telling you this story?..............in the possibly vain hope that maybe one day someone will look at my blog who knows Greg (no surname) or Henry (no surname) and would be able to put me in touch with them. I would so love to see a picture of the painting....I don't even know what the title was.........to have a photograph of it would mean the world to me. I've spent many hours searching the Internet for some clue but with so little information it has proved a fruitless task. It's a very special thought for me that somewhere in the world someone has a painting of my Mick hanging on their wall.

Courtesy of a blog by Ruth-boofie

Research has revealed that "Ruth-boofie" was Ruth Jenner from Great Cornard who died on the 7th June 2014
https://www.justgiving.com/remember/131195/The%20Ruth-Jenner

Mick was Mick Prior, her 64 year old husband, a painter and decorator who died in 2007

Research revealed that Henry was none other than "Henry Liam Ward", who has been commissioned by our Queen. Henry also has paintings on display in the National Portrait Gallery and at the National Gallery in Bermuda,
Henry Liam Ward
Henry was a guest of Greg Moore at Smallbridge, possibly circa 1991.
Ruth Jenner claims to have seen a portrait of "Mick" on Henry Wards web site, but I have found no trace as the page has long since been removed

Henry Liam Ward Gallery link
The Queen admires her portrait painted by Henry

Published 06/06/2018