I find that my studio work sometimes has a more dramatic composition. The reason for this is when i'm in the field painting en plein aire that I often get caught up in the literal aspects of a scene.
When I compose in the studio from a photo reference I often find find myself making better decisions about composition or the visual flow of a painting.
In this particular studio painting I wanted to show my process from start to finish. I painted this plein air study (below) back in August.
Before I started the painting I took a photo of the scene. (below)
After several months went by I decided to expand on my original idea of the study while still keeping the charm of the scene. The image had a natural composition to it so I didn't have to change much. I made a small quick pencil sketch (below) of what i wanted the end result to look like.
After the sketch was done I decided on a dimension of the final painting. I went with a 24 x 36 canvas. Before I started the painting I set up my camera so I could recored the process. Here is a Stop-Motion film (below) I created from the images I took of the painting in progress.
via richardoversmith.com