En Plein Air: Downtown Arcadia in Early Morning (Oil, 11 x 14)

Yesterday morning, I went with VAC Plein Air Group to paint downtown Arcadia. I had never been there. I decided to paint the street corner at the interception of Oak and Polk. That was where the Old Opera House was located. I am not sure whether the Opera House was still in business. When I got there, the downtown was like deserted with very few people. After I set up, the sun cut the building on the corner in half with its lower part in shadow. I like it very much, but the sunshine lasted only about 30 seconds and the sun never came back again. I tried to paint the impression left by the 30-second sunshine. An hour later, the situation got worse as the sky was getting darker. It became windy and then it poured down. I had to stop painting and began to pack. It rained so hard that the street soon became flooded. In order to load my kit into the car, I had to jump into the water which came to my ankles. I was soaked through and drove more than an hour in all wet clothes before I got home.