The drama of the night

Nocturnes offer the artist an endless variety of subjects and opportunity to use a limited palette to render a full range of colour and tonal contrast. In daylight, city and townscapes can be a daunting prospect, which may overwhelm the artist with detail, colour and tone. However, the same subject viewed at night can be entirely different – intimidating details, colour changes, etc are replaced by simplified form, colour and tone, which can often result in a far more dramatic and exciting painting. Water and wet surfaces become spectacular at night, especially when reflecting lights, for instance from cars and shops.

Street scenes (pages 30-31) and (below).