Rainy Scenes

Some years ago, rainy weather fascinated me as a painter. When the skies go grey and misty and the light becomes flat and shadowless, when rain falls steadily, the scene is ripe for more drama than a sunny day.

Hoff, "Goodbye," oil on panel, 2009

In a city, in the rain, things begin to look smeared. Buildings, pavement, streetlights, even faces lose definition. The world turns into shades and tints and lights shimmer and float. "Goodbye" developed from a city sketch of pedestrians in the rain. Here and there, the shiny pavement reflected shop lights onto the people hurrying along in the downpour. For me the composition is more effective for lacking a definite horizon, suggesting the complexity of city streets and intersections.