Oil on gallery wrapped canvas 
 16” x 20”x 2.5”
In December, the sun doesn’t begin to touch the Strip District of Pittsburgh until around 8:30 am. The area is cast in the shadow of the Hill District until then. It’s an amazing hour, when the sky is clear and the intense winter light begins to slowly illuminate the area, while the background towards downtown and Troy hill are lit  up, and the background towards the hill district is a deep dark purple. There is so much interesting play of light and shadow at this time of day and as trucks are driving by and shops getting ready for the day, you can really feel the place wake up if you sit there observing. In this scene you see the cars haphazardly parked in the Strip, looking across the river to Troy Hill, which is so brightly illuminated by the rising sun, relative to the deep shadows in the Strip, that it can be hard not to squint.