Night guests

Seated at a small table by an open window, a red-haired woman in a blue dress tilts her head back and raises one hand toward paper cranes that hang and seem to hover above her. A teacup rests on the checkered cloth beside her, and beyond the glass a night skyline glows with scattered lit windows under a starry sky, framed by a patterned curtain at right.

The composition is built from deep blues and blacks, warmed by the cranes' red-orange folds, the woman's auburn hair, and pockets of amber light in distant windows. Paint is applied in smooth, simplified shapes with soft edges, and the impossible suspension of the paper birds lends the scene a quiet, dreamlike hush.