Today I felt a need to move in a completely different direction.  I am taking a large canvas, onto which I had projected one of my millimetrical maps of water distorted bodies from the fragmented series, and decided to approach it in a completely abstract and gestural manner.  no pics yet...you'll just have to wait, as I fall through space engaging only my right hemisphere ............

Today I spent a long while reestablishing the posture of the head and shoulders and deciding where her right arm might lay.  It now is laying be her side, swinging slightly backwards, giving her a sort of resolute air, as if she were marching on.  The ray of light that crosses her chest is by far the most interesting element for me in this image, that and the floating hair of course!  Meanwhile I am continuing my online research on glazing and plan to make extensive use of them for this image later on...can't wait!

Today I did some major glazing, that gorgeous glossy unifying sheen, that deepening of tone, I just love it.  I started this after listening to a friend of mine talk about an artist friend who glazed a Caravaggio inspired image and how the glaze brought the image to life...and so I have gone ahead and done some glazing myself and I am quite happy.  There are some areas I am still having trouble with:  I started a sort of swirl just below the top that doesn't quite read yet, still working on tthat.  But the wateriness of the light play on the skin is everything I have been hoping to achieve, so one should focus on tthe important victories, and not fuss, or fuss tomorrow, at least.  Now I want to start another 50x50 cm square, this one includes the head, though fairly hidden under some hair, with a big slash of light across the chest, maybe a flash of inspiration to the heart, while we are on the road of anatomical analogies... I already have her mapped out on the canvas...

Today I worked on the second map again.  I have much more work to do on this one as I travel across the plains and valleys of the psyche, the emotional psyche, here represented by the abdomen.  the light and shadow patters are slow to emerge, and require much investment, and rightly so.  why should the description of an emotional situation not require the author to live it not just every day, but also during the process of description?  So this is where I am at, fumbling in and out of peaks and valleys, over and over, watching for a shape that speaks of joy or pain or soul and then coaching it into a visual manifestation.