This painting started as a single canvas. But the longer I sat with it, the more I felt it needed room to hold what was rising. I added a second canvas underneath, not to make it bigger, but to let the weight of what I was feeling settle. I was thinking about displacement. About people being pushed from their homes. I couldn’t shake the images I was seeing from Gaza. I was thinking about forced migration, about survival, about what it means to leave or be left behind. There’s something ancient in that story, something we’ve lived through before and keep repeating.
The red sky holds so much. There’s anger in it. Grief. The memory of battle. But I also kept hearing that old phrase in my head—red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. That mix of pain and promise. A sky that carries loss and the possibility of something new. This painting sits in that space. Between rage and renewal. Between collapse and the quiet hope that maybe something better is still possible.
Details:
Title: Under a Blood Red Sky Medium: Mixed media (acrylic, plaster) Structure: Diptych Size: 142 x 102cm framed Framed: Black float frame Finish: 2 coats protective UV varnish Certificate of Authenticity: Included
“This piece holds the tension of what we carry and what we lose. It was made while I was thinking about people being forced to move. Some running for their lives. Some walking into the unknown. The second canvas gave the figures room to keep going.”
- Anthony
This painting speaks to those moments when everything shifts. When the world changes shape and you don’t yet know where you’ll land. It’s for anyone who’s stood under a sky that felt too heavy but kept walking anyway.
