Crying Angel with Baby. Emotional watercolor painting

Expressionist painting.  22 x 30 inches. Watercolor on rag paper.

Kathy Poitras’s “Crying Angel” is a hauntingly beautiful depiction of sorrow, compassion, and resilience. It captures a moment of aching tenderness as an ethereal angel cradles a child against a backdrop of chaos and longing. Her flowing blue hair and serene, grief-stricken face are framed by a stained-glass halo — a shattered divinity mourning a broken world.

The angel’s tears fall not from weakness, but from the unbearable weight of witnessing innocence ravaged by war’s cruelty. Her embrace is an act of desperate protection, shielding the child from violence, hatred, and despair. The tenderness of her touch contrasts sharply with the turbulent backdrop of swirling teardrops. 

Yet, even amid devastation, Poitras infuses the painting with symbols of hope. The vivid, floral patterns woven into the angel’s dress bloom defiantly, speaking to the persistence of love and life. The large, luminous green heart shaped leaves, scattered throughout the background pulse with a determination to heal, to nurture, to endure.

“Crying Angel” is not only a meditation on war’s atrocities but also a testament to the enduring power of love. It speaks to the angelic within us all — the capacity to hold, to grieve, and to hope even when the world feels irreparably broken.