#52 - 2nd Ave. North, East of 4th St. North

#52 - 2nd Ave. North, East of 4th St. North
9" x 12" oil on panel  08-14-2014  (sold)

#51 - Lake St. near Hennepin Ave. S.

#51 - Lake St. near Hennepin Ave. S. (looking North)
9" x 12" oil on panel 08-10-2014

I used to spend more time in the Uptown area of Mpls.
It's changed so much since then. There are still a few old bits left
here and there, but you get the feeling that even those aren't going
to be there long.

#50 - 3rd Ave. North near Washington

 

#50 - 3rd Ave. North near Washington 

8" x 10" oil on panel, 08-07-2014

#49 - West 43rd St. & Garfield Ave. S.

#49 - West 43rd St. & Garfield Ave. S. (looking South)
8" x 10" oil on Panel  08-04-2014
(sold)

The crooked little garage at the end of this alley was irresistible.

#48 - 35th & Lyndale Ave. S. (looking North)

#48 - 35th & Lyndale Ave. S., looking North
Oil on panel, 07-10-2014  - (sold)

This one is directly across the street from the last post (#47).
I couldn't decide which to paint, so I did both.

#47 - 35th & Lyndale Ave. S. (looking South)

47 - 35th & Lyndale Ave. S. (West side - looking South)
 8x10, oil on panel, 07-08-2014  (sold)

The old stomping ground.  I shared the house next to the green and white one with
friends (and band mates at the time) and walked past this alley every day for a couple years.

#46 - 2nd Ave. S. between 5th and 6th St.

#46 - 2nd Ave. S. between 5th and 6th St.
24" x 36" oil on canvas.

#45 - Lake Near Lyndale #3

#45 - Lake Near Lyndale #3
12" x 30" Oil On Canvas, 05-10-2014

This is the 3rd version of this scene.  The 1st was a watercolor sketch, the second was
a smaller oil painting.  The goal this time was to simplify shapes, details, and edges.
I've been (slowly) moving toward a goal of achieving a looser style.

Extras...

The thumbnails and color sketch for last week's post, #44 - Spring & Van Buren NE.

#44 - Spring & Van Buren NE

#44 - Spring & Van Buren NE
18" x 36" oil on canvas.
(sold)

I've fallen behind on posting lately.  I've been so busy making
new ones that I forgot to keep up the main reason I'm doing
all these alleys....this blog!

I recently got to see this one again.
It always surprises me to look at a painting
after an extended time. I often think to myself,  "How did
that happen?!"  It's a nice feeling to get away from a picture,
forget about everything that went into it, and
just enjoy it as if it were new to me.

#43 - East 24th St. & Minnehaha

#43 - East 24th St. & Minnehaha
24" x 30" oil on canvas.  4-20-2014

This alley is off 24th St. facing North.
The blue building is Coastal Seafoods.
A hot, dusty and quiet early afternoon.

Extras...

While I'm working on new alleys to post, here are sketchbook pages with thumbnails and color tests for a couple of the paintings.  I'll often sort out basics like this and then jump in with hopes of keeping an amount of spontaneity in the final.

Edit (7/29/14):  Oh and happy news....
I just got a nice write up from the Southwest Journal about 100 Alleys:
http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/news/kingfield-artist-finds-inspiration-in-alleys

#42 - East 22nd St. & Clinton Ave.

#42 - East 22nd St. & Clinton Ave. 4-9-2014
24" x 30" oil on canvas.    (sold)

Big back lit buildings never fail pull my attention down an alley.
In my imagination,  there's always something interesting going on back there
...you just never know.

Nothing much in reality...parking for the church and businesses.

#41 - Lake St. Near Harriet Ave. S.

#41 - Lake St. Near Harriet Ave. S.  (looking South)
18" x 18" oil on canvas, 3/14/2014
(sold)

#40 - Lake Street Between Aldrich and Bryant

#40 - Lake Street Between Aldrich and Bryant - 01-21-2014
3"x4.25" gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

#39 - 28th Street & 1st Avenue South

#39 - 28th Street & 1st Avenue South - looking South - 11/22/2013
3"x4.25" gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

This is the last of this group of black and white sketches.  The sketchbook these are
in has 30 pages.  My plan is to do ten black and white, ten black and white plus one
color, and ten full color.  These limited palette sketches are a nice way to work on things
like my tendency to drift to middle tones.

#38 - 32nd St. Near Grand Ave. S.

#38 - 32nd St. Near Grand Ave. S.,  looking North.  11-08-2013

3" x 4.25" gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

#37 - Monroe & Spring NE

#37 - Monroe & Spring NE,  10-24-2013
3" x 4.25" gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

#36 - The Incident On 40th Street...

#36 - The Incident On 40th Street
(that ended in the alley between Pillsbury and Pleasant).
24" x 36" oil on canvas, 8-5-2013
(sold)
Here's something a little different.... inspired by something I started a couple months earlier and based on something that happened just prior to painting it.   The style seemed appropriate for this one.

    One evening in late July after we had come in, there was a very loud crash outside.  We ran out to see what it was and found a car askew on the road with its door open and people standing in the alley entrance across the street.  The story was that the driver hit three cars on Nicollet and one of them chased him as far as the light pole that he bounced his car off.  Then he fled on foot.  They chased him down the alley, held him, and called the police.  There were empty booze bottles and beer cans in the car.  At least the child car seats were empty too.

#35 - East 38th St. & 40th Ave. South

#35 - East 38th St. & 40th Ave. South, 06-11-2013
3" x 4.25" ink and gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

#34 - 46th St. East & 29th Ave. South

#34 - 46th St. East & 29th Ave. South, 6-10-2013
3" x 4.25" gouache in Moleskine watercolor pocket sketchbook.

#33 - Lake St., East of Aldrich Ave. South

#33 - Lake St., East of Aldrich Ave. South - Looking South - 06-09-2013
3" x 4.25" gouache in moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

This one is from an off the cuff snapshot that might otherwise have been deleted.  All the lines and tilt made it appealing and a good candidate for this group of black and white sketches.

#32 - 1st Ave. Between 1st & 2nd St. N.

#32 - 1st Ave. Between 1st & 2nd St. N. 06-09-13
3" x 4.25"  gouache in pocket moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

#31 - 28th & Polk NE

#31 - 28th & Polk, NE
3" x 4.25" pencil and watercolor in a pocket Moleskine.

A  messy spring day with dirty snow run-off sounds pretty good.
The winters start feeling long through Jan. - Feb.

But, since it's still early enough (sort of) -- Happy 2014!