For Gillies, drawing was an extension of being. He drew wherever he went and used it to capture his visual reactions to place. As with his painting he regularly changed his style to suit the subject and this drawing dates from the period he was exploring cubist form having just returned from France and Italy.
This is one of the only surviving drawings from this period that relates to a finished painting, which takes inspiration from the French artists Robert Delaunay and André Derain.