Night Sketching in Alleys

Night sketching in alleys opens up new worlds of light and color.

Streetlights come in a variety of color casts: the yellow of sodium vapor, the green of mercury vapor, the red of neon, and the blue-white of metal halide. Our eyes can see variations in these light colors that elude the camera.

This casein sketch is about the size of a baseball card. In the semi-darkness, it's difficult to distinguish subtle color differences on the palette, so I take a basic palette of about seven colors.

I take a variety of compact LED lamps with me in order to match the illumination on my sketchbook with the levels and colors in the scene. Clockwise from upper left is a single head book light, a Mighty Bright "Hammerhead" light, and a Petzl Headlamp (customized with a nylon diffuser and a 1/4" 20 nut held on with Sugru as a tripod attachment point). I also sometimes use an Artist's Road Night-Light Cap.

The lights are clipped to my newest sketchbook, titled "Hitting the Whiskers," following my custom of lifting a line from the first page of the sketchbook.

A garbage collector's shirt or uniform is helpful, too, because you want night vehicles to see you. You can pick up these uniforms used at a uniform store. Or you can get a reflective safety vest online.
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Previously: Multi-Colored Streetlights
Vintage Streetlight Collection
More light colors in my book Color and Light