The start of a new day generates exhilarating feelings for me. From an artist’s point of view, it’s a blank canvas that could develop in any number of interesting ways. I often venture out, with no particular purpose other than to experience it.

On this particular early morning, I decided to head across the river to a favorite coffee house. I was seeking a quiet place to sit and do some sketching, away from my home studio. While en route, I noticed that the only traffic around me was delivery trucks. They were out ahead of the morning commute rush, loaded with wares to stock the various stores and businesses preparing for the day’s commerce.

As I waited at the intersection, having nearly cleared the downtown area, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few images through my raindrop-spotted windshield.

Once I settled in with my cup of coffee, I pulled out my sketchpad and doodled with some of the images I’d captured. I thought about the drivers, who must have started working well before sunrise, and whether they shared my enthusiasm for the early morning. I wonder what their perspective would be.

This small study was done back in my studio. My focus was to capture the early morning feeling, with a particular emphasis on the gray-green lighting effect of the early sky. It created a very muted effect with respect to the colors of the buildings and allowed the vibrancy of the lights to be the star of the show.

This piece sells in a black wood frame that measures about 15” x 13”. It ships free in the U.S.