For some reason, I decided that August would be a good time for an outdoor-all-day daytrip.
 
August.  In Israel.  When there is ZERO cloud cover and it's +100 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
 
In my defense, I'd only been living in Israel for 3 months, and I had a rare day off from my intensive Hebrew classes.  And I had been itching to explore the region around the Sea of Galilee on my own.
 
I decided to start at the archeological site of Migdal - the hometown of Mary of Magadalene. The site (also called "Magdala") is a relatively new discovery for archeologists (2009) - and, in their excavation, they discovered a first-century synagogue (one of the oldest in Israel!).  Not only were big portions of the mosaic floor preserved - it's pretty likely that Jesus himself walked on those mosaic tiles.  
 
Between the archeological remains of the town of Migdal and the nearby reed-covered shore of the Sea of Galilee, the museum had planted a row of beautiful olive trees - and their branches were heavy with bright green underripe olives.
 
So I snapped a picture of those olives - and retreated back to my car not long afterwards, since I could feel my head start to swim and my skin start to burn in the extreme heat ... but not before buying a life-giving ice cream from the museum shop 😉
 
Then, back at home, I pulled out my jar of Mediterranean saltwater and painted them.  (I had started playing with saltwater in more and more of my work at the time ... and found that it often made the colors pop brighter!  And I really wanted to get the electric underripe green color) 
 
DIMENSIONS:
5 inches by 8 inches (13 cm x 20.5 cm)
 
WATER:
The Mediterranean Sea
Collected and bottled up in Haifa Bay, near Kiryat Yam
 
MATERIALS:
Daniel Smith Watercolors
Micron Archival Pens
Cold Press Paper