2:07 PM: i went back into gaze 23 this morning. i think it's greatly improved, but i need to bring it to the house to see how it holds up hanging next to the other gaze paintings.
if you compare it with yesterday's version, you'll see that i did work on almost every area of the painting. perhaps the most important change is in the lips. but the eyes as well are more expressive now. and the streaks of light on her garment make more sense now that the area in shadow has been lightened. i have riffed on vermeer's girl with a flute in a total of 5 gaze series paintings thus far. for me, she is the most enigmatic in her gaze of all the women and girls he's used as models. the lighting on her face is very dramatic, far more so than appears in my version, reminding one of Caravaggio.
BELOW: left and center: the painting as it looked yesterday. right: today's version
