Some paintings live a long time in your heart before they get out there where you can see them. This is one. I finally realized I wanted to paint this and literally drove right to the spot. Looking up at the hillside, I squeezed the right colors onto my palette and just laid it out on the prepared board.
That is how one might imagine painting works, but it almost never does.
It's simple. You just have to live 70 years, look up at the hillsides every day, and do a million paintings and drawings. Then you remember that hill you've been meditatively observing for more than half a century and paint it.