Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds), oil on linen painting by Cerulean Arts Collective Member Jeff Thomsen.  Included in his solo exhibition January 15 - February 9, 2025.  Size:  24" H x 30" W; Frame: 25.25" H x 31.25" W 

This painting is one in series of five paintings based on the five-movement piano suite Miroirs by Maurice Ravel. 

For this movement, Ravel imagined, as he said toward the end of his life, “birds lost in the torpor of a very dark forest during the hottest hours of the summer.” It is thought that Ravel had in mind the forest of Fontainebleau near Paris. But for me, the music placed the (in)action once again by the sea, and once again, at a place distant from human eyes, human disturbance, yet parched by the heat. The music’s main statement evokes for me loneliness rather than sorrow. My painting, incidentally, has five birds on the ground, only one of which is immediately visible. We hear birds more often than we see them. 
                                                                                                                        Jeff Thomsen

Note: Painting will be available for pickup or shipment after the end of exhibition.

To view additional work by Jeff, visit his webpage: