BEAUTY AND THE STREET

HARMONIC MOTION oil on canvas 36 x 48" sold

Remember how it magically did actually rain a bit while I was painting the last of this water series, Drowned Temple? Well, being a shameless opportunist, I took that as not only good fortune, but as an opportunity. It rained enough that day to form some actual, honest-to-goodness puddles in the street below our house. As the cloudburst began to pass, out I charged camera in hand. That peculiar mauve-grey of the storm clouds was reflected there as the last drops fell, but so was the blue, blue sky as those clouds broke up. Which is why those are the colors of these ripples. And between, the dark areas are not reflections, but the view down to the asphalt below (I love that these rain on water paintings are all about above and beneath: surface, sure, but how the surface is disrupted, and how the layers below are inevitably revealed.). I was thrilled with my find, happily clicking away – and inadvertently holding up traffic while bemused neighbors carefully went around me, staring at the mad lady in the middle of the street photographing... what, puddles? (What can be the matter with the woman?). To each his own. That there were actual puddles, even momentarily, was a small miracle. That they were reflecting that beautiful stormy sky and hosting those heavy, final thunderstorm drops was just the cherry on top. Cliche to say it, but beauty is indeed where you find it.