into every life a little rain (and paint) must fall

     Holy raindrops, Batman!  Boy, did it rain yesterday and last night.  There was something in the rain and in the cool fall air last night that seeped into my paint.  A memory of my time in Montreal.  One of the things I loved about living in the city was the rain, or rather walking in the rain.  The smell of raindrops on asphalt, the rhythmic melody as water hits rooftops and the ground alike, the way the thousands of lights in the city, from streetlamps and windows, hit the nighttime droplets in just the right way, creating millions of tiny shimmering cascading stars, white, blue, yellow, even red, interrupted only by my umbrella.  And of course, the twinkling of the light, reflecting off of the hundreds of puddles I'm trying to avoid as I stride along, slightly hunched under the shield of my umbrella, because that's what we do, isn't it?  For some reason, we automatically go into that position when it rains, as if it's going to keep us from getting wet.  There's nothing like walking in the city on a rainy night!  And that's where this piece came from, as I painted, I found myself thinking of those nights, the sights, smells and sounds, and I smiled.  I call it Downtown Rain and I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it. 

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