to detail or not?

I love doing a little color study for each new painting because it helps me narrow down the color palette to create the mood of the painting-story I'm telling. These little studies are fresh and loose.

Because the larger painting is just that...larger...it also ends up more detailed, probably because there is just more physical space for me to finesse the scene. I love the detail but it results in a lack of the spontaneity of the little study and I'll have to decide if that is OK with me. See the two examples above: the top one is the little color study and the bottom slice is the finished painting. You can see (and buy) the study on Daily Paintworks until Saturday, April 14.