Great cello!
I see problems with the other areas in the painting and I think I can figure out why. You wrote:
Quote:
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Besides, this portrait was made from a combination of different photos during the model's absence, and an occasional sitting.
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Working from many different reference sources may have led to the main problem I see in the rest of the painting.
The face and clothing looks "made up", like you had to cobble together information from life and more than one photo, which were perhaps shot from different angles and showed different expressions. I find that combining information from a variety of references is one of the most difficult things to do, and is sometimes downright impossible.
I would recommend choosing only ONE face photo to work from. You can use other photos for the clothing, but again, choose one main one. Any place where you have to make something up or combine different arm angles, etc, will throw you off.
Even better, if she will sit for you again, work only from that same life pose, and/or from one main photo that you take in the exact same lighting she's posing in and the exact same angle you're painting from.
I think this will help you a lot.