A Tale of Two Paintings - Which one would you choose?

 

Loose versus Detailed.

 

I often make color sketches of a subject before I make a final painting.

Sketchbook and Final Painting.

Overall, I liked how the final painting turned out, but when I was photographing it in hopes of getting it printed as a greeting card, I wasn't quite satisfied. 

I decided to take a good close-up photo of my sketchbook and compare them.

Soft edges versus lovely color variations.

Even though I loved the way I caught the subtle glow of colors on the final painting, I was completely drawn to the sense of flower-like softness in the sketchbook painting.

Impression versus more Realistic

 I do like the realistic, detailed way I painted the tulip and leaves but I have been bothered for awhile with a sense of stiffness that I don't like in my paintings. 

Great brushstrokes versus accurate tulip shapes.

  I've struggled with finding a way to address this problem and now perhaps these tiny paintings have given me a road map to get me going in the right direction.

The question will be if I can learn to let go of painting some of those wonderful details in a larger format! I dearly love painting the details.

So, which one did you like best? I did choose one to be printed and will let you know how it turned out.

Happy Creating!

>^-^<

Tina