A scarecrow in a tattered coat and battered hat stands on a post in the middle of a dry cornfield. Its carved pumpkin head glows orange, the one warm point in a scene of slate grey and brown.

Heavy storm clouds swirl overhead in thick, wavy brushwork, and a long flock of black birds streams across the sky toward bare trees and distant hills. The rows of dead, golden-brown cornstalks fill the foreground with sweeping strokes that add to the uneasy, windswept mood.