Jo Walton
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bluejo.bsky.social
Jo Walton
@bluejo.bsky.social
4.5K followers 120 following 790 posts
Writer of SF and fantasy. Superintelligent shade of the colour blue. "Even better than cold carrots." Vocateur reader. Philhellenist. Loves tea, trains, travel.
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bluejo.bsky.social
Did women ruin the workplace?
St Barbara reading by the fire in a Renaissance room full of precise detail, painting from the Prado in Madrid.
November 7, 2025 at 7:47 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
Did women ruin the workplace?
A man is holding a huge sea eagle on a Scottish moor, with hills and sea in the distance, while a little girl extends her arm next to it, as if she's about to transform into another sea eagle
November 7, 2025 at 7:23 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
We asked for signs
The signs were sent.
The birth betrayed, the marriage spent,
The widowhood of every government.
Signs for all to see.
I can't run no more with that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud...

Leonard Cohen
Mural of Leonard Cohen on a building in Montreal, seen from the Musee des Beaux Arts on a day with sun and clouds over downtown
October 21, 2025 at 9:12 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful illuminated capital from a Renaissance songbook in San Marco, Florence
The Virgin Mary, unusually in red, sheltering kneeling Dominicans under her robe, surrounded by curlicues of blue, green, and gold. On the right you can see some notes and ruled staves.
October 19, 2025 at 7:44 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
A purple morning glory with the sun shining through it so it looks like stained glass, with black iron bars of a balcony behind and blue sky, so it looks even more like stained glass.
October 4, 2025 at 2:07 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful how can I be so lucky as to get to see this on mjy way to the bank?
Giotto's Belltower, Florence, standing against the sky
September 25, 2025 at 7:50 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful Overflowing bounty of flowers.
Three planters with brightly coloured flowers spilling over, and a huge mass of green and blue flowers growing around them
September 24, 2025 at 5:58 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a new piece from my aunt Mary Lace
Oil painting of a pink rosebud with leaves in a clear vase, next to a white curtain with folds and reflections and shadows and tassels.
September 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
What poster did you have hanging on the wall as a child?
A woman's face and a hand holding a seashell in colours of fire. It's called Jutta, by Bob Venosa.
September 14, 2025 at 5:49 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a still life by my aunt Mary Lace, who is 81 this week and painting better than ever
White curtains, slightly parted to show part of an ordinary house with a chimney, a window sill, and inside a blue and white jug containing yellow roses
September 13, 2025 at 6:15 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful one of the windows in the Duomo
A round window, with white marble dividing it up for stained glass, but seen from outside (so the glass is just dark shapes, but all around it are incredible layers of detailed patterns in coloured marble in green and pink and white, so many patterns, so much detail
September 12, 2025 at 6:09 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful Gelato with friends
Two triple scoops of gelato, one raspberry fig and marscapone, one blackberry, peach and marscapone, held in hands, against a background of cobbles and grass and trees
September 11, 2025 at 8:24 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
We've been having this kind of weather in Florence the last few days, storms and clouds, and bursts of sunshine. #SomethingBeautiful
The city of Florence from Piazzale Michelangeno, showing many rooftops, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the belltower, and the Duomo, with folds of hills behind and a huge grey billow of cloud, but the sky full of light behind
September 11, 2025 at 6:57 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
The Baptistery in Pisa
August 4, 2025 at 7:32 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
I had an absolutely terrific time at Polcon in Warsaw this weekend...
So there's me, in blue with my blue hat, and I'm being attacked by a huge inflatable alligator and laughing
July 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a still life by my aunt Mary Lace. The painting on the wall behind the jug is a painting she did in art college sixty years ago.
a green, orange, and cream jug (deco style) on a wispy white table cloth embroidered with oranges, and on the wall behind a painting of a man sitting on a bed
June 22, 2025 at 11:50 AM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a new still life from my aunt Mary Lace, the interior of her studio, with tulips
A vase with two pink tulips, reflected in glass covering wood in the table, and behind prints and books, predominant colours blues and browns
May 31, 2025 at 12:27 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a still life by my aunt Mary Lace, featuring my great grandfather's Welsh prayerbook
A black Welsh prayerbook, open, in bad condition, with two white kid gloves, and behind a table with a blue and gold scarf and another prayerbook
May 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
And here's the gorgeous cover of the new Italian Among Others, translated by Silvia Constantin. It came out this week and is available in all good Italian bookstores www.lafeltrinelli.it/fra-altri-li...
An art nouveau style girl sitting on a tree branch reading, in blues and purples, almost like Mucha. She has a cane beside her
May 16, 2025 at 9:21 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a still life by my aunt Mary Lace
A black jug on a pink scarf with a Japanese print in the background
May 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful and also setting up for my novel Everybody's Perfect, which comes out in thirteen months: magical Venice.
Venice lit up for Carnival in gold and white and slightly out of focus, dark sky, bridge, domes, arches, spires, gondolas
May 13, 2025 at 5:50 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful Look at that lion's face
An old guy in black robes removing a thorn from the paw of a staring lion
April 7, 2025 at 1:49 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful an angel hugging a monk to welcome him into the Earthly Paradise in Fra Angelico's Judgement Day -- the only Judgement painting I've seen where the heaven side is as exciting as the hell side.
A winged angel in pink with a halo, is hugging a monk in white, their faces both look individual
April 6, 2025 at 1:08 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful a symphony in bluegray
A dark blue boat on Puget Sound, blue-gray water, with a white wake, and blue and gray clouds, and other distant boats on the horizon
April 5, 2025 at 12:17 PM
bluejo.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful Bronze Apollo from Pompeii
A bronze statue, green with oxidation, serious thoughtful face, ringlets, hand and arm half raised, against rough stone wall
April 4, 2025 at 2:15 PM