Studio: 25th May & 1st June

I have included photos from 2 studio days to show progression - 1st June was a really productive studio day! Last week I was really knackered from work and had difficulty concentrating (although did glaze a layer on both) but on Saturday I worked solidly for several hours on each painting and am beginning to see the composition more structured. As a result of this, I made some decisions which involved obliterating and repainting angles in facial features. I hope that this will help to add depth with the addition of glazing later on.

Building up layers in water and beginning to add leaves and 'blossom' to background trees - they need to be quite dense but allow some blue sky to come through to create depth

This appears slightly darker than it is due to studio lighting. Obliterated the mouth of right figure to repaint - not sure if I could leave it masked or whether this is too obvious. Building up layers in the water, pathway and foliage in the background. Key decision about glazing made in the hair of the left hand figure to add structure to smaller scalp - really like this now.

Glazed some further red and sienna into the foreground and skirt to bring figure forwards. Added blue wash to background figure (still no face). Need to start adding green layers to ground to make earth more convincing. Strategically wiped off areas of water to create sheen on the surface - like the contrast of vertical and horizontal lines on land/water.

Overpainted with white to make head more three-dimensional - noticed it was rather flat and unconvincing. Under painted creases onto face to continue to sculpt features - think this looks quite doll-like, reminds me of Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'. Finding it quite difficult to add glazing to the water as it needs to convincingly recede so taking it slowly. Have also added green glaze over foreground earth which (not terribly clear on this photo) begins to blend red and green to make the use of red less obvious.

Reflection
I am really pleased my progress with these paintings so far, although am impatient to move them forwards. I have been reminded in the last two sessions how important it is to reevaluate and reflect on the compositional elements of paintings throughout the process, rather than drawing and filling in. To review, rework and redraw allows the painting to escape becoming stagnant, although there is a stiffness to these lines which makes the figures appear more static and fixes. I just discovered Alice in Wonderland syndrome (micropsia and macropsia) and thought that this linked in with my ideas of colour/perception and scale/perception. It seems relevant in the context of these pieces and is definitely worth researching further. I can explore what makes us perceive objects or people as real, larger, smaller, animal and how to manipulate perception to force this sort of encounter with my work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/16/healthandwellbeing.familyandrelationships
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23446681
In addition, I need to further contextualize my use of water in both images which was conscious but not deliberate. Fluid - yes. Open outdoor space - yes. But what does water represent? what does it mean in the context of my work? A quick Google tells me that water can mean...
'Water is a universal symbol of change and is often present at turning points in a story. Since water is often a sign of life, many times water represents life. Water can also be up into two categories: fresh water and bad/polluted water. Fresh water can represent good health, and bad water symbolizes bad health.'
'Water represents the unconscious mind, and the unknown.' - sounds dangerous. I will come back to this.

One Month Reflection
I definitely need to reengage with (micropsia and macropsia) which I had found and forgotten almost in one moment. However, there are elements which are emerging in my current large paintings, in particular the falling house piece where the perspective and relative scale of figures and objects are all slightly, deliberately wrong, to manipulate and disorientate the viewer. The vast, sweeping landscape also seem to be personified and menacing - I suppose this forces an encounter with the whole painting rather than just through the figures' gaze. Also, this another example of a piece where the gaze is averted rather than direct making the foreground figure seem lost. Just a technical comment about recording progress - I need to remember to photograph my work using my SLR rather than on my phone as when I have transferred and tried to annotate these images, the quality is poor.