He soon became an integral part of the art community in southern California, receiving critical acclaim as a painter of coastal marine scenes and sierra landscapes. Smith helped to found the Sketch Club as well as the Biltmore Salon in Los Angeles and was an inaugural member of the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association.

Smith was also a member of a select group of artists known as the "Ten Painters Club of California". Holding exhibitions at the Kanst Art Galleries in Los Angeles and promoted as the ten foremost artists of the west, the other members included: Maurice Braun, Benjamin Brown, R. Clarkson Colman, Edgar Payne, Hanson Puthuff, Guy Rose, Elmer and Marion Wachtel, and William Wendt.