Drops artist during US season (8)
I believe the answer is:
rainfall
'drops' is the definition.
(drops of rain)
'artist during us season' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'during' becomes 'in' (I've seen this in other clues).
'us season' becomes 'fall' (US term for autumn).
'ra'+'in'+'fall'='RAINFALL'
(Other definitions for rainfall that I've seen before include "Amount of water coming down" , "Water falling in drops" , "Form of precipitation" , "Precipitation, get out umbrella" , "Shower" .)