Here is my completed tribute to my Great Uncle George Ingham (3 Platoon A Company 19th LF or 3rd Salford Pals), who survived his battalion's attack on the Leipzig Redoubt at Thiepval on the first day on the Somme, only to die of wounds received in a 3 AM attack 2 weeks later at Ovillers-la-Boiselle. I don't have a photo of George so this is a generic bust of a private of his platoon.

I converted it slightly adding the 3rd Salfords' shoulder flashes, shoulder titles on his epaulettes and by reshaping the mouth. I also removed the hair from his forehead to make him look younger. Young's excellent bust OOB is of a veteran regular of 1st LF. I wanted to make this version look like one of the young volunteer pals of Kitchener's army. My Great Uncle was only 19 when he died.



Painted in acrylics and inks. I went for a rougher, less blended style than usual to reflect the wear and tear of trench warfare. No label on the base yet - that will come later.

Comments welcome.

Colin

I am glad to see this finished. You've done a great work here Colin.
Gerard.

Very nicely done

Excellent work Colin and as Carl says a fitting tribute to your Gt. Uncle George.

Roger.

Absolutely love it.....really well painted and a nice tribute to a brave generation

Great idea and great painting

Really nice Colin an wonderful tribute to the fallen youth and especially your great uncle
Steve

Beautiful painted, Colin and a great tribute to your Great Uncle! Hope to see it next weekend!
Cheers,
Zeno

Great tribute to your Uncle with this fabulous bust.

Marc

Very nice Colin ,some good effects also

Ron

Colin,
Excellent tribute to your great Uncle.
Cheers
John

Beautiful! The spade effects are excellent.

Great tribute to your uncle and those who fight for a better world.
Congratulations on this beautiful paint.

Pedro.

Very nicely done - "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"
Steve

Wonderful result, Colin. Beautifully painted.
You've created an excellent tribute to your great uncle and one that will always remain as a family record of his service and sacrifice. Well done.

Thanks to all. Nice to have the favourable comments and as you have noticed, this was a bit of an emotional piece for me. I did a blog documenting my tactical researches on George's time on the Somme from July 1 to 15 (previously posted in the lounge). I add the link here for completeness - http://3rdsalfords.blogspot.ca/2012/04/i-grew-up-knowing-that-my-maternal.html

The spade was undercoated with diluted black acrylic and then dry brushed with Vallejo silver. Once dry, I used Liquitex and Citadel inks - black, burnt umber, flesh and orange - to get the metal tone right. It seemed to work quite well.

The photos above were taken with an SLR and flash so the contrast is a little higher than reality. I figure that if a model looks OK in direct flash it passes the smell test. I will post some more subtle shots tomorrow once the batteries on my point and shoot with macro finish charging.

And finally - thanks to Young for providing me with an excellent canvas!

Thanks again for the generous feedback!

Colin

Beautiful work Colin. You created another family heirloom.

Joe

Brilliant job and captures the period. Great tribute as well.