Harmony of Light and Shadow, oil on linen panel

I've been working on some "study to studio" pieces of late.  Sometimes the studies are finished works and sometimes they are just that - studies.  The larger formats can be the same or different.  I try to take the things that work in the smaller work and make them work in the larger piece.  There are times it works and times it doesn't.  Scale is a strange thing.  A composition on a smaller scale might be predictable and ordinary on a larger scale.  Often the feeling of a larger piece must accompany a different size format.  Here is one I just finished:

This is a 14x18.  I very much consider it a finished piece.  I love it's freshness.  It has a rougher, less finished look, but the light and contrast really felt honest to me.  Sometimes that unfinished more spontaneous look works better than the more finished look and sometimes vice versa.  I like to think they each have their own distinct personalities and one is not better than the other - just different - kind of like our kids :) 

This is 22x40, a commissioned work for a great client.   I've used the same lighting in this piece, but it is all a little more honed in and more polished because of it's size.  I like the different format to extend the water, making it a little more dramatic.  There was certainly more space to develop the land masses more and the sky drama more effectively.  

Stay tuned for another example from my demo last weekend.  I'm working on it right now.....