A girl in a white dress, and the wings we all carry.

This was my first oil painting. My initial attempt at her face failed because the colours were off, so I removed it and started again. A girl in a white dress leans against a weathered blue wall, her face turned up. It was the lighting that drew me in; since my photography years, it's what I notice first in any subject. Behind her, two great wings fill the panel in broad, faceted brushstrokes. They stand for the inner beauty in us all, whether we're aware of it or not. Angels walk among us every day, and you're one of them.

Living with it

• A wide, panoramic piece for above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard.
• Hangs without a frame on a hidden sub-frame, about 1.5 cm off the wall, so there's nothing between you and the painting.
• My first oil painting, where it all began. One of one.

Details

• Size: 84 × 42 cm (33 × 16½ in), width × height
• Medium: oil on gesso-primed aluminium composite panel
• Series: Transcendence (I of III)
• Exhibited: In The Hands of Angels, Arbory Trust, Barton, Cambridge, November 2026

10% of original painting or limited-edition print (on the price excluding VAT) will be donated to YoungMinds via Work for Good. YoungMinds is a registered charity (1016968 / SC039700).