Before The Rain captures a moment of suspense when the streets are still dry and the warm sun stil lightens the trees and the ground.  That light is eerie, almost unnatural, against the menacing sky. I wanted to explore the contrast between two states of being, working with the excitement I feel when I see this phenomenon.

Somewhere in the middle of painting this piece, I stepped outside onto the front porch to watch an approaching storm. Dark clouds were rolling in from the East but the sun was still bright in the foreground, just as in my painting. Suddenly a flash of lightning flashed in the distance, so bright and fleeting, yet it lingered in my vision. I knew this was the element that was missing from my picture and pushing aside doubts about it being "over the top", I painted it in using the brightest white I had. I reserved the pure white for last, not using it anywhere else in the painting, in order to give the lightning as much power as possible. Even so, my attempt to capture the brightness of that bolt of lightning, fell far short of the bright flash that still lingers in my mind.