In this romantic representation of the Cudahy Packing Plant in north San Diego (the inscription "South San Diego" on the original mat is incorrect), a group of industrial buildings dominates the crest of a rolling hill along the San Diego River. Brandt painted the water color in the early morning hours after a sleepless night camping in the sand dunes of Mission Bay with his friend, sculptor DONAL HORD. The smell and sounds of the slaughterhouse disturbed Brandt: "[While] the pigs were mostly inside the plant becoming bacon, [I] visualized them in a happier relationship [grazing outside] ." The cool palette aptly conveys the damp morning air felt by Brandt while he painted the scene. When exhibited at the 1938 California Water Color Society annual, the painting’s large size drew attention. Phil Dike, then president of the society, believed that the heroic size of the composition demonstrated the effect of Brandt’s mural painting on his watercolors. Such large-scale images became typical of paintings produced by many members of the California Water Color Society beginning in the mid-1930s.