ARP Warden William Hodges

I found a great black and white photo, so this was always going to be mainly in blacks and greys.  I could have made the background all black but instead blended it into some lighter greys behind Bill’s shoulders.

For the guest colour, one possibility would have been to give Bill brown eyes but there’s already enough brown in this collection.  So I went for yellow.  My original idea was to light up Bill’s face with yellow light from exploding bombs but his face was looking so good that I didn’t want to disturb anything.  So instead I put some yellow over the top of those background greys to look like fires in the background.

And that was me done.

Just like Jonesy, this one brings out an emotional response.  Hodges is a man with a job to do and I didn’t like how he was always portrayed as the enemy.  I’ve worked in an office.  Some days you’re the Mainwaring and sometimes you’re the Hodges.  But in this painting there’s no doubt about who’s side Hodges is on.  There’s anger and defiance in those eyes as he stands amidst the carnage of a German air raid.  This one has story and personality there.  I’m amazed at what a few simple strokes with a marker pen can do.  And most of this is down to that Bill Maughan book.

So, just two more portraits to go now.  Or is it?  The last four have come out so well that Wilson and Walker are starting to look pretty bad.  I may need to have a second go at both of them.  Wilson is looking like the best candidate at this stage to be given a coloured background to balance the one behind Godfrey and Pike.