cheers for the response

Wow, tom i'm gobsmacked, you give my work so much credit and time, i really appreciate it. a lot of what you say is very much how i intend it to be read so that makes me feel like i'm improving somewhere and then there's some things you say which i didn't expect yet seem accurate also and that opens up new avenues. i think painting does need to exist in an uncertain boundary land and that will often give it a surreal flavour although it would be a mistake to read it purely as such, and you've avoided that pitfall so i'm glad.
it is interesting you said that the added canvas makes it feel like a piece is missing as i was contemplating adding a lead to the dog heading of into the empty space to heighten this sense, still unsure what to do about this. i'm anxious that it can be read as an interrogation of relationships, how things come between, a queen has a special interaction with this kind of question, pressures of normal life are accentuated.
and i'm currently in the process of repainting the harpists arm to try and do something else with the paint, to make it seem to have more direction/intention, so you're right about that, although i'm happy with his hair and i think his face should remain crude and simple, its just about on the precipice of shitness, and thats a good place to be i think. that you described him as the crow, i'm really pleased with, and as he is the protagonist then that places him in control of this enclosed environment. a pied piper.
let me know if you decide to come up for the turner shit.