A TALENTED artist has once again transformed the gates to his home, this time with a poignant artwork depicting the Ukrainian war one year on since the Russian invasion.
Angus Macaskill painted the emotive four foot piece of art that is now hanging from his gates in Vicarage Lane, Olveston.
Marking one year tomorrow (February 25) since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Angus hopes the mural will raise awareness of Ukraine's plight and encourage a cease-fire.
The painting depicts a peace dove soaring high above central Europe and tears of sadness falling into the war zone in Ukrainian blues and yellows.
The artwork - which only took eight hours to complete - is also inspired by Picasso.
Since last year, Angus and his wife Fiona have been hosting Ukrainian family Anna Bylyna and her daughter Veronika - who he surprised with the touching mural.
“Anna, Veronika and their Ukrainian friends did not know I was doing this, so it was a great relief that they felt honoured when I showed it to them,” he said.
“I had the idea to do something to mark the anniversary late last week.
“The idea came over the weekend, except that originally I was going to have the tears dropping from an eye floating in space at the top of the picture.
"As soon as I thought of Picasso’s doves, that seemed a much better idea with all peace references."
Anna’s family are from a suburb of Kyiv and arrived under the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme last year and have been welcomed into the Olveston village.
They were given clothes, provisions and even bicycles by kind-hearted strangers when they first arrived.
South Gloucestershire Council also helped by providing a support worker, mobile phones for both of them, and some starter money to help them begin a new life here.
The devastating war in Ukraine has left at least 7,199 civilians dead and thousands of others injured, according to a recent UN estimate.
The war has featured twice before in paintings on the Angus’s gates.
Last year, Angus painted a scene from Kyiv station in which residents crowded onto trains to flee west, as Anna and Veronika did when the capital city was first shelled.
Also at Christmas last year, Angus painted an imagined scene in Ukraine inspired by the WW1 temporary ceasefire in 1914.
He hopes that, like his WW1 painting, a cease-fire will be reached eventually.
Angus said: “It goes without saying that although they are very grateful to be here, all the region’s Ukrainian guests can’t really plan their future steps whilst the war continues.
“For the shooting to stop, there have to be leaders who are willing to negotiate and make compromises.”
“It is just so so sad that this still appears to be a distant prospect”.
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