I have been wanting to paint this scene for months, but didn't get around to it until day. It's a moment from HG Wells "War of the Worlds" which ahs always stuck in my mind. For those not familair with the book, it was written and set in the late 19th century and told of the Earth being invaded by Martians using huge, tripod war machines. At this point in the story all the efforts of mankind have failed, the Martians are firmly in charge and those few humans left alive are struggling to stay alive in a doomed world - treated no better than vermin or cattle.

Pohotoshop 7 with Grapphire 3 tablet. I used some late 19th century paintings of Regent Street to help with the location.

Here's the passage from the book which inspired this painting:

The artilleryman began to tell me of the sort of people who still remained in London.

“One night last week,” he said, “some fools got the electric light in order, and there was all of Regent Street and the Circus ablaze, crowded with painted and ragged drunkards, men and women, dancing and shouting till dawn. A man who was there told me. And as the day came they became aware of a fighting-machine standing near by the Langham and looking down at them. Heaven knows how long he had been there. It must have given some of them a nasty turn. He came down the road towards them, and picked up nearly a hundred too drunk or frightened to run away.”

Grotesque gleam of a time no history will ever fully describe!