Drawing Small Towns

I have just uploaded a new image on my home page. Last fall a fellow artist and friend of mine asked me to dog sit for her and her husband while they went to an Auburn football game. They live in a small town about one and a half hours south. I had a great time--they have three very different, very neat dogs--plus I got a lot of wonderful photos to use for my drawings.

My friends live a block from "downtown" so I walked up to main street and started taking pictures. I realized that their town really speaks for small towns all over the country. The main street is small store fronts, restaurants, gift shops, the town paper. I love the old bank building at the corner of the town square with its front door set in diagonally on the corner of the building.

This new image is of the stores on main street. I wanted to get the feel of looking way down the sidewalk with the trees lining the road and all the shadows. I also wanted to draw the Buster Brown and Philco neon signs getting the right values in black ink for the colors on the signs.

I am calling it "Small-Town USA" because we have all been to, grown up in or visited someone in just such a small town everywhere in America. If you haven't seen it yet, click on the link in the upper right hand of this page. I hope you all enjoy it!