Lost in Translation?

Lake Alpine Study 1

Lake Alpine Study 2

One of the things that I of course learned as I did these two was that it's possible to lose the original idea (or discover another possibility) of the sketch in translating it to the larger format. 

For the first piece one of the things I liked the most was the curved line of the white cutout paper against the white background paper. In painting the larger piece I lost that idea because there was no cut out paper involved. I did create some textural differences to define that area of division but it is hard to see. At the last minute, as a touch up measure, I inadvertently created some textural crosshatching. It's very subtle though. I'd like to recreate my original "sketch" in a larger format since I think that construction is what is holding my attention. 

The second piece also lost a little in translation. The proximity of the moon to the hills was increased. The actual size of the moon itself was reduced. I also reversed the direction of the hills which created a different overall structure. This is another piece that I think I would do again closer to what I did in my sketch. 

While I don't dislike the above pieces and recognize that there are probably endless outcomes, there is something still that I want to do here. One of the questions I have is about how to get the results that I want. Do I use a mix of painted cut paper shapes and regular painting? Do I just paint straight out what I want? The first piece contains a mix of painted paper and regular painting. This idea is appealing and versatile. I will be thinking about it today.

In the meantime, I am just plugging away today. Preparing paper on a board for painting, sanding existing paintings so that I can gesso over them, and also possibly doing another leporello/accordion book. They are quite fun!

Hope everyone is well. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby