Spring Around the Corner

This is one of my favorite paintings of the plein air week in Winters. I have painted this alley several times before, but always from the street. This time I went up the alley and looked out at the street. The light was perfect. There were three different colors of brick in the wall. The yellow is an old painted sign on the side of the building. The bottom is pink brick. Lots of power lines are winding around poles and buildings. After my success with this alley, I went around and looked at some of the other alleyways in Winters. They are possibilities. I got the brick colors by starting with raw sienna and then adding alizerin crimson over in streaks and while still wet added cobalt blue to the darkest red. The direct glazing technique gets amazing color that just pops. Once it dries, add the shadows to define structure.