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You may be able to finesse the sturm, but I wouldn't try to avoid all the drang. I understand what you're saying about resisting excessive darks, but I do think you'll profit by even some small, judiciously placed contrasts. (You don't, by the way, necessarily have to go "dark". Sometimes you can pull this off with temperature variations.) My thinking on this has mostly to do with the illusion of form, and the avoidance of "cut-out" shapes if possible.
I think there are five areas that will really come to life with very small increments of change, either toward darker or cooler hues. They are:
1) The hair, which right now is not only substantially lighter overall than in the photo, but is "hairs" and doesn't fully partake of the form-defining shadow areas that must be in there somewhere (after all, the other objects in the scene are casting shadows).
2) The area of the shirt near the crook of his right arm (on our left). The form certainly dips underneath the arm at that point, and out of the light.
3) The area of the shirt along the top of the forearm on that same side. Again, the shirt is going to bunch up a little there and then turn under to go behind the arm. There's going to be a definite shadow along that turn.
4) The area of the shirt below that arm, as it rounds the body to our left. Not only is that area out of the direct light from outside, but it's shaded by the arm itself.
5) The shadow area along on the neck along the collar, on our right. That's going to be quite dark, as in the photo.
These are almost all in the nature of accents (which can be enormously effective), rather than statements, and I don't think you'll change the emotional feel of the piece by including them, should you choose to do so.
I hadn't gotten into the face before, and perhaps I'll leave that for others.
As I said, the bowl doesn't trouble me (whether it's round or elliptical in nature), because it rather "fits" into the perspective and foreshortening of the boy's pose. That does bring to mind, nonetheless, one incident in the studio in which a student was painting an irregularly shaped piece of pottery (that is, a piece that "should" have been round but wasn't.) He was quite sure that he should paint it as it was, but the instructor advised him to paint it symmetrically, because if he did it true-to-life lopsided, anyone who viewed the painting would assume that he (the student) had been the one to misjudge the dimensions.
I'm not sure what that little story means, but my fingers wouldn't quit typing.
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