7th St. Alley

Slept in this morning due to daylight saving change. Missed my sketch class so went out and painted in Davis. This is an alley with morning sun. One side shaded and the other bright. Many of our trees are budding and some in bloom. Davis has many alleys in the older or central core. They are not paved and have houses on them. They are pretty neat to paint because of the light changes. I will have to try some more.

Quiet Alleyway in Davis

The older section of my town, Davis, has alleyways that are very different charm than the streets of Davis. I am not sure what they have for a mailing address but the residences are typically small without a garage. There are power lines and they have trash pickup. It must be a tight squeeze for the trucks, especially if a car is parked. As you can see in my painting of this alleyway, it has deep ruts which collect big puddles of water, now that the rains are here. In the early morning the sun lights up one side and creates wonderful shadows. When I wander around town looking for something to paint, I am drawn to the alleys.

An Alleyway in Davis

Last week our Davis Plein Air Painting Group visited the alleys that are found in the older section of our town. For some, it was a first time discovery. The morning was bright and sunny with the sunlight shadowing one side of the alley and casting long shadows. We did a sketch crawl through several of the alleys and ended up with pictures done with pen and ink, colored pencil, watercolor pencil and watercolor painting. This was from one of my sketches that I liked. We all promised to revisit the alleys and find new ones. It was a good outing.