i've worked quite a lot on this picture and made several versions of it, all as huge xcf:s with tons of layers and i still ended with a favourite version where nothing much was changed. molly and O, thanks for tips regarding the floor. i tried the dark-and-shiny variety first but it seemed to change the whole atmosphere of the picture so in the end i decided against it. instead i looked at some more indian floors and was inspired by one picture. it was a mosaic floor that looked a bit arabic. i had a pattern in one of my pattern folders that looked vaguely arabic too and i played around with that til i got the result you see in the picture - i think this floor stays.
the "green" (actually not a green pixel in them, probably looked green against the red tones in the wallpaper) things that molly commented on started as screens shading off lamps put in deep recesses in the wall - then i thought the lamps and recesses took too much attention and complicated the lighting, so i got rid of them, but liked the screens so they stayed. i've toned them down a little by changing the colours, now at least i don't think they're stealing attention and i like lots of pattern in my pictures. i did set them off a bit more from the wall, though.
erisian (thanks for the flowers, by the way, they're appreciated
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
) suggested some simple eyes and moko asked if faceless was a style or something i was going to change later. i wanted her without a face partly because it suited the simple collage style of the whole picture and partly because a face controls the mood of the picture too much. but i did think the shading in the face could be enhanced a bit so the face didn't look too flat and while i was at it i experimented with eyes a bit too and liked the result.
i had problems with the layout too and first i thought erisian might be right about balancing the foreground pattern on the right with something on the left but that wasn't it. so i started moving things around a bit instead and now at least i am happy with the balance in the picture - the dancer is better placed and her shadow weighs down the left corner a bit.