Distant thunder

Two young women with roses and stars in their hair stand in narrow niches cut into tall clipped hedges, each holding to her chest a stylised white bird patterned with blue sky and clouds. Real songbirds — goldfinches, waxwings and swallows — perch and fly among pink roses and dark foliage around them, and a third woman's profile appears faintly between the hedges.

Dense, finely detailed brushwork renders each leaf, feather and petal with near-decorative precision, set against plain cream panels that isolate the figures like triptych compartments. The cool greens and creamy whites, broken by red roses and the birds' bright plumage, combine with the impossible sky-patterned birds to give the picture a quiet, symbolic strangeness.