#97 - S. 10th St. & Park Ave. Fr. Rd.

#97 - S. 10th St. & Park Ave. Fr. Rd.
18x36 oil on canvas
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This is an alley that I've had on the list for a while, but I waited until all the construction in the background was finished. The buildings in the background have all changed in the past couple years and for a while the sky was filled with construction cranes.
I'm glad I waited.

#96 - 38th & Chicago Ave. S.

#96 - 38th & Chicago Ave. S. 24"x36" oil on canvas
I cut loose with the thick and juicy paint this time.

We had quite a winter here in the Twin Cities.
This alley seemed like a good representative.

#95 - 3rd & Marquette

#95 - 3rd & Marquette
24x30 oil on canvas
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A new alley!!

I love how the buildings downtown can sometimes overlap, cross, or intersect and what seem like unnatural angles. As I have been doing recently, I was shooting for simplicity with this. I blocked most of the buildings in with a brayer, a 3" drywall knife, and an 8" squeegee. To finish, I stuck with the largest brushes I could use (a number 4 flat was the smallest). I pushed all the color saturation of the grays and browns toward blue and orange. It was nice to do another alley.
 
Sorry these are so few and far between. On the plus side there have been new opportunities that have been exciting.

#94 - East 31st Street Near Portland Avenue South

#94 - East 31st Street Near Portland Avenue South
20"x24" oil on canvas
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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.

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

#91 - 32nd Between Girard and Fremont Ave. S.
12"x9" oil on panel
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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
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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
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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.

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

#87 - N. 2nd St. & 22nd Ave. N.
8x10 oil on panel
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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.

#85 - North 10th Ave. Between 3rd & 4th St. North

#85 - North 10th Ave. Between 3rd & 4th St. North
9x12  oil on board

This was an experiment.  The goal was to do the drawing at the location and paint it back here from memory as much as possible. With the exception of a couple adjustments later, I was able to do what I set out to. It gave me a lot to think about with regards to what's essential and what I can do with it.

#83 - 12th Ave. S. & Powderhorn Terrace

#83 - 12th Ave. S. & Powderhorn Terrace
14x11 oil on panel
The shadows here were amazing. There a few short streets at the North end (I think) of Powderhorn Park that I hadn't seen before. I was over there taking a look at the park with the idea of coming back to paint the Midtown Market building tower that rises above the trees in the park. The lighted sign looks pretty great at twilight. But....I often get distracted by the alleys in any neighborhood that I'm in and then this happens.

#82 - 13th Ave. NE & NE 2nd St.

#82 - 13th Ave. NE & NE 2nd St.
7"x5" oil on panel

With less than twenty alleys left, I plan to try and push myself more toward simplification, design, and abstraction. More and more, I'm drawn toward mystery - things left unsaid. This alley was a great opportunity for that, with the back lighting and the big shapes. I left out all the little details and just let the paint do the work.

#81 - East 57th Street & Elliot Avenue South

#81 - East 57th Street & Elliot Avenue South
8"x6" oil on panel
(sold)
This alley was commissioned by the family member of a friend as a gift to his sister.
I was asked in late March or early April, but I wanted to wait a few weeks until the trees started greening up. I was really hoping for some sun, but those weeks were cold, grey, and rainy. There were *finally* a few sunny days in early May and after all that rain the trees were green enough that I was able to get what I had in mind.

#80 - Portland & S. 9th St.

#80 - Portland & S. 9th St.
12"x16" oil on panel (sold)

This March and April seemed endlessly cold and grey.  I've been looking forward to getting outside again. This one was from last fall while looking for interesting alleys. I started it then, but set it aside and finally finished it last month. Sometimes I run into complications that take time to resolve. Sometimes they never do. I'm glad this one did.
Apologies for the glare. I didn't notice until I went through the photos. This painting is currently hanging at Butter Bakery Cafe for the months of May & June. If I get a chance, I'll take a new photo of it later.

#79 - Minnehaha & East 34th Street

#79 - Minnehaha & East 34th St.
6x8-oil on panel
(sold)
This was from the snow fall we had here in Minneapolis a few weeks back.
It's looking like that will have been the last snow of the 2016/17 winter.

#78 - 47th St. between 1st. Ave. & Nicollet Ave. S.

#78 - 47th St. between 1st. Ave. & Nicollet Ave. S.
6" x 12" oil on canvas.

This one was sort of spontaneous - I happened to  have some paint left on the
palette, and a little time, so I painted this small one recently.
I've been trying to focus on design, shapes, color, etc. and this was a good exercize towards that.

#77 - East Lake St. & 30th Ave. S.

#77 - East Lake St. & 30th Ave. S.
8"x10" oil on panel
(sold)
A warm late afternoon/early evening in Southeast Minneapolis.
We are in the middle of a winter deep freeze as I post this.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to warmer days.

#76 - E. 42nd St. & 38th Ave. S.

#76 - E. 42nd St. & 38th Ave. S. 8"x10" oil on panel

We did have a nice extended fall season here ....when it was dry.

#75 - South Thomas Ave. & West Franklin Ave.

South Thomas Ave. & West Franklin Ave. - 8x10 oil on panel.

I've made it three quarters of the way! I even had time to get a few ahead last month.

This one is in the Kenwood neighborhood (if I'm wrong, please let me know).
I was out with my friend Mister FatCat again last month, looking for an interesting alley in the area.
We set out that morning with a specific site in mind, but when we returned to it that morning it was really
a driveway to parking for some apartments. So, we went looking for another and found a couple interesting
spots. One was good enough that we started to set up....and then I called it off. Sometimes you get a feeling that it's not going to work out. Thankfully I got that feeling before we started and not two hours into it.
I was being picky, but wanted to take one last try at finding something interesting before it got too late (we had already spent a couple hours out looking) and had to resign ourselves to plan b. Around the corner and two blocks down we found this one.
It was nice to stumble into this - the sign said dead end alley, it's unpaved, and the light/shadows were good. We set up and went at it! Mostly painted on site, but I made a few adjustments to the next day at home.  

#74 - Girard Ave S. & 22nd St. W.

#74 - 22nd St. W. & Girard Ave S. 5x7oil (sold)

This one is in the Lowery Hill neighborhood. It was a great afternoon to be out painting. I was with my friend Jeff (Mister FatCat) a couple weeks ago and we found an old brick paved alley. I don't recall seeing many, if any, others like this. I know they're out there, but they're pretty rare. I think most were dug up or paved over a long time ago.

#73 - 42nd & Garfield Ave. S.

#73 - 42nd & Garfield Ave. S.
Ink on paper - digital color.

I spent a good portion of the summer occupied with illustration work much like this....drawn and inked on paper (heavy 100% cotton, this one) and then scanned and colored in Photoshop. It was a natural to just fit this in with what I was doing. This one was a request from a friend for a neighborhood event this month and since I've been behind again on posting (and making) new alley pictures - I jumped at an excuse too make a new one! This might even look good as a print....maybe silk screen....hmmmmm....