The "wavelike form" in this painting was developed from a piece of wood Sutherland came across during his explorations of Pembrokeshire. The dark red orb of the setting sun glows against the green gloom and darkening sky. As in many works of this period the object under scrutiny is located against the strong horizontal line of an estuary shore and seems to take on a monumental scale and significance. Sutherland explained that from "the first 'frisson' of an encounter" would develop "something else, controlled and ordered by the mind".