Path to White Tree

After painting "Hope," one summer, I got a better camera and tried to find where I had taken the photo I used for the painting, but couldn't see it anywhere. I knew it was on the trail that goes along the east side of Grass Lake in Shoreview, MN, but no matter how I looked, it wasn't there anymore. Talk about mysterious. I remember reading the advice of a watercolor artist in England. He said if you happen upon a scene you find beautiful, don't move to the left or right, or back up to see if there might be a better angle. Just paint right where you stand because the scene may disappear before your eyes. Then, the next year in early spring, at just the same time of year, I found it! The foliage of summer had covered the scene. So I took it again with a telephoto setting like I had before. It's amazing how one year can be exactly the same as a former year at exactly the same time of year. For fun compare it here with a link to the painting.