Beautiful handling of your paint particularly in the blouse. Very competent drawing of the hands and figure, however, probably because of the strength of the white blouse in dominating the design the woman’s head feels too small for her body. Sometimes in strong contrasts of light against dark, the light area will appear larger in a painting. Be aware of this and adjust. Also, backlighting the head very subtlety will set off the head better and allow the full size of the skull to show. Look at Rembrandt’s portraits to see how he handled figures on a black ground.

Also be careful you don’t let the light reflecting on the face to become too pasty white. The face feels washed out in relation to the blouse. Bring up the skin tones in the cheeks to play off the rosy tones in the blouse. This will also help unify the design of the portrait. Additional value to the mouth and eyes will play up the strength evident in the woman.