The final painting "Summer Meadow" posed several challenges. I could use the small oil sketch for color information, but I needed to add a lot more details. Fortunately I not only painted my sketch, but I also took a lot of photographs of the scene from different angles and close-ups of details. These photographs provided me with reference material for the grasses and the trees.
Compare the oil sketch with the final painting. What I think was successful was the feeling that I had captured in the oil sketch is also reproduced in the final painting. Many viewers of the painting have said that they the feel as if they can walk into the scene. In my view, that makes this a successful painting.
