Blind artist paints Andy Murray Wimbledon picture

A visually impaired RAF veteran has presented a painting commemorating Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory to the Scot’s grandparents.

Dorothy Wheatley's painting, entitled 'Andy Murray Serving an Ace at Wimbledon'

Shirley and Roy Erskine, grandparents of tennis legend Andy Murray, were handed the painting, titled ‘Andy Murray Serving an Ace at Wimbledon’ from 93-year-old Scottish War Blinded member Dorothy Wheatley.

Inspired by Andy Murray’s first round win at Wimbledon, Dorothy began work on the piece as an art project at the Linburn Centre, which is run by charity Scottish War Blinded, completing it in time for his win in the final versus Novac Djokovic.

Dorothy said: “When I started the painting, I wished I was there at Wimbledon watching the match. Even though I can’t see much it brought the sound of the play much closer. It was a lovely surprise to see how many coats of colour were needed to build the picture. It brought Wimbledon a little nearer and in all my 93 years I never thought I would have the chance to paint this. It was very exciting and I had to concentrate so hard, particularly on the roof which was the most difficult bit to do.”

Linburn Centre Art Instructor David Grigor describes the techniques Dorothy used to produce the painting:

“Dorothy utilised a range of techniques such as brush strokes, finger painting and textured sponge rolling to produce the painting depicting the scene on Centre Court. Dorothy managed to paint independently with only occasional direction in terms of placing sponge and brush strokes. As you can appreciate, this painting is a fantastic achievement.”