Angel Winter Sunset

Angel Winter is one of several paintings I’ve produced of the Gateshead Angel, some in watercolour, others in oil with gold leaf.

The figures in the painting bring scale to the Angel of the North, the iconic public sculpture by Antony Gormley that stands on a hill in Gateshead, overlooking the former industrial heartland of northeast England.

The Angel is a colossal steel figure, human in form yet unmistakably otherworldly, the largest sculpture in the UK. Its outstretched wings are flat and angular, more like an aeroplanes. They span dramatically from side to side, giving it both a protective and confrontational presence.

I like to paint it from the side, slightly behind to emphasise the contours of the body. The body is rigid and frontal, rooted firmly to the earth, as if absorbing the history of the land beneath it. The artist, Anthony Gormley intended it as a marker of transition: a guardian of place, memory, and change, especially in a region shaped by mining and heavy industry.

In this watercolour, the Angel feels less industrial and more spiritual and contemplative. It was one of three watercolours I painted to be reproduced as Christmas cards for a local charity, the Cyrenians which is now Changing Lives.

The hard steel form is softened by the glowing sky and gentle washes of colour, transforming the sculpture into something almost mythic. My inclusion of tiny human figures, one of which is a small child mimicking the outstretched wings of the Angel highlight the Angel’s role as a silent witness, standing watch over generations, weather, and time itself.

However, rather than dominating the landscape, the Angel here seems to belong to it, suspended between earth and sky. The earth itself is covered by snow that reflects the colours of the sky.

The painting emphasizes not its mass or engineering, but its symbolism: resilience, protection, and a quiet, enduring hope set against the vastness of nature.

Unframed