Smith Lake

Smith Lake is down south from where I live in wine country.  I ended up there after a couple hours of driving around.  I knew I wanted to be in this general area but I did not know where.  I had just started driving which is not what I normally do.

I settled down into a private campsite in the park.  It was pretty hot so I picked a spot in the shade after I had walked around and took some reference pictures.

I had been at this park once before when I had worked in the area but it was in the middle of summer and the plants had all burned out from the heat and lack of water.

I painted for about 2 hours and like always I knew it was time to be finished.  It is like some kind of internal alarm clock going off.  I started painting and didn't stop to take a sip of water until I was done.  Only then did I feel the sun burn and notice the sweat running down my arms.  So deep is my concentration when I am painting that I am not aware of anything but the subject and my process.