Making a new painting out of an old one

I got this painting back from a gallery last week and put it in the kitchen where I could see it while I was taking a break and eating dinner. I wasn't comfortable with it. The composition seemed awkward.

So yesterday, it went back into the studio for a complete face lift. Now, I am ready to send it back out into the world. It is part of my "Arms Wide Open Series".

I have been working on this painting off and on for a couple of weeks. I started out by putting it in the hot sun and scraping it down to the board, leaving lovely stains on the milk paint base and a very thin layer of wax. I then starting drawing with charcoal, and scraped out the figures. I kept adding encaustic paint, oil stick glazes, more charcoal and on and on.

I am thinking of calling it "Flirtation" Any suggestions or comments?

Usually, I work to achieve a glass-like surface, but because I teach so many workshops, I experiment with other techniques and surfaces so I can share the information.
These two paintings are like excavations - so the titles...Lots of digging, cutting into and spraying water into hot encaustic to create a lava-like surface.

Excavation 1

Excavation 2

I never run out of things to try with encaustic.

I have received some personal messages from readers who have liked and/or identified with my memoir, but now I am requesting that  any of you who have read my book to please add a comment on the Amazon page. http://tinyurl.com/9s37z7y 

Still reworking

What's my name? 16" x 16"

"Oriental Jewel" 12" x 12"

I am pulling more and more old paintings out of the stacks and working over them. With encaustic, it just seems to make them more interesting and luminous. Here are two I finished today. I have many more unsatisfactory paintings that are waiting to be saved. At this rate, I can keep busy for many weeks.

I can't think of a name for the orange painting. Can anyone suggest a title?

Seems to be a re-do time in my life. Still working over old paintings that didn't stand the test of time and now I am re-photographing older work whose images disappeared with the last hard drive crash, so I'll post some of them.

The marching band got the festivities started - after the fire crackers before dawn

The dancers were getting ready for a long afternoon of dancing

The closed street offered a playground for children

 A contact in costumes.

My usually quiet neighborhood bursts into life and noise one weekend a year. They close off the street for 2 days and the party continues well into dawn, including fire crackers starting at 5 am. I'm not sure what they are celebrating, but I love watching the dancers, and only once a year, it is entertaining.

I wish I could include the sound!