#94 - East 31st Street Near Portland Avenue South

#94 - East 31st Street Near Portland Avenue South
20"x24" oil on canvas
-
It was nice to get back to these. I didn't force myself to try anything unusual, or add any restrictions, so it was enjoyable to just art for the enjoyment. And yep, that's a dinosaur head on the back of that truck. I drove past this in the early fall and had to make a run around the block so I could snap some pictures. The garage and truck are equally interesting. I have a feeling some creative types live there.

#93 - E. 19th St. Near Stevens Ave.

#93 - E. 19th St. Near Stevens Ave.
24x24 Oil On Canvas

Here we are at number 93. This is another one from the Stevens Square neighborhood.
There are so many good ones over there!
Again, I'm pushing color and contrast while simplifying shapes.
I was very tempted to go full abstract with this. I did a few color thumbnails to make
some color choices and really liked them, but decided to try and find a middle ground.

#92 - 57th St. E. & 40th Ave. S.

#92 - 57th St. E. & 40th Ave. S.
11x14 oil on panel

One from the far Southeast corner of Minneapolis.
This alley had a nice shady, cool feeling and I used
an all cool, limited color palette to push that even more.

#91 - 32nd Between Girard and Fremont Ave. S.

#91 - 32nd Between Girard and Fremont Ave. S.
12"x9" oil on panel
-
So, I'm into the last ten of the one hundred. I had all sorts of ideas about
what I was going to do. The best laid plans and etc., etc.....
At this point I'm still experimenting on these. For instance, this one had a couple things
going on. I used a color palette that I would never normally use, just to see how I
could make it work for me. I used Alizarin permanent, Cad. Lemon, Viridian, and white.
I added Cobalt blue and Raw Sienna to keep the others in check. It might have been interesting
to run those heavy colors full tilt, but maybe another time.
I'm also still working on simplifying shapes, pushing contrasts, adding in things like soft graphite, and using odd housepaint brushes, scrapers, knives, squeegees, and ink brayers while building it up. I'm already looking ahead at what I can use to tackle the next one.
But at number 91, I'm still having fun with 'em.

#90 - 1st Near 4th St. N.

1st Near 4th St. N.
6"x6" oil on panel
-
This small one is from a photo my friend Mike sent me a while back.
Up to this point I haven't used any photos that I didn't take, but this one
stuck with me. I kept it as a reminder to check this location because
I liked the look of it. It has an eerie, lonely quality. I had some time one
afternoon between things recently and just went ahead and painted this one
from the photo I had.

#89 - NE 15th Ave & Washington St NE

#89 - NE 15th Ave. & Washington St. NE
18x24 oil on canvas
-
I haven't done one of these at this size in a while. I spent a little extra time
experimenting with it, trying a few things that I've picked up along
way doing smaller alla prima and plein air work.

#88 - East 36th St. & Snelling Ave.

#88 - East 36th St. & Snelling Ave. S.
3x5 AcrylaGoauche on paper

I wasn't going to post this one because it seemed too loose and sketchy, but then that's what changed my mind. I found an old pocket Moleskine sketchbook full of alley sketches and paintings on a shelf and it had a page prepped for another small alley, so I did one. After a few years away from doing them that way, I realized my approach to these has changed a lot. And I'm happy that it has.
So, here's a recent little winter scene from Southeast Minneapolis.

#87 - N. 2nd St. & 22nd Ave. N.

#87 - N. 2nd St. & 22nd Ave. N.
8x10 oil on panel
-
Happy New Year.
It's been a while! Apologies to anyone following along.
I haven't given up - just had a very, very busy couple months.
The holidays and a pile of work kept me away from alleys for
Nov. & Dec. I had plans to finish the 100 up last year. Really, I did.
All the best laid plans...etc.
It's nice to get back to these.