It turns out I’m not alone in remembering, admiring and being influenced by the Oxford A4 pad illustrations of Edgar Hodges. When I mentioned it at the latest Inside Out notebook meeting, it turned out that most people there knew the drawings and had no idea who had done them.
And I had a surprise for everyone who remembered them, too: Edgar Hodges has been in touch! He recalls doing the A4 pad illustrations, but says that it was a very short commission – when the company changed the look of their line, they no longer wanted any further illustrations from him. He’s retired, but still paints and draws, and also makes maritime models. He was very gracious in his reply, and I think a little surprised that anyone had bothered to track him down.
So, to wrap up the story so far, here’s another one of Edgar’s great line illustrations from an Oxford graph paper pad.
If you haven’t seen Edgar’s utterly gorgeous, jaw-droppingly good maritime paintings on the Ships Nostalgia site, I recommend you do so without delay. Just type ‘beaches’ and hit ‘search’ The man’s a genius but refuses to acknowledge he’s anything special. Modest to a fault.
I have got an Edgar Hodges drawing – ‘The Bridge of Sighs’. I was searching to find out more about him – thanks for the info!