Northern Annunciation

On a bare, softly rounded hillside at night, two young women sit wrapped in a plaid blanket beside a small fire, one resting her head on the other's shoulder, while a third stands apart in a long coat, arms crossed over a bundle, tipping her face up toward a streak of light crossing the starlit sky. Small dark wooden structures sit silhouetted on the ridge behind them.

Painted in oil with a deep near-black sky stippled with countless tiny stars, the scene contrasts the cool darkness of the hill and heavens with the warm firelight and rust-brown coat of the standing figure; smooth, controlled brushwork and sharp outlines against soft atmospheric ground give the picture a still, hushed, otherworldly quiet.