Shelling by night 1941

Here is the Ravilious, Shelling by night. There’s a sense of a very specific time of day–or night–in this watercolor. The first thing you notice is the eerie glow of the shell exploding; the rest of the scene is muted in comparison, shrouded in shadow. I can feel the artist searching to capture the right tone, the right shade of gray to express a specific mood. Ravilious is using very dry brushes here to describe the landscape, the side of the cliff, the buildings in the distance. You see all these little strokes of the brush, tiny hatches and small, scribbly, tentative marks as if he's trying to find the exact right gesture to capture the effect of light at night. The sky is flat, the sea is flat, but he animates the landscape with these repetitive marks, building volume.