The scarf works. And you are smart to ease into the contrast. If anything should be played down in my view, it would be the black dress below. I just finished a painting where I had the whole upper canvas in light background, and the whole lower canvas in dark clothing. I decided to vignette the lower form by just using outlines and making the background come into the form below. Do I make any sense? In other words, I didn't like including so much of the figure to the edge of the canvas just because there is canvas there. In this case, perhaps it would help to vignette her and fade out the dress in the lower left and just use outlines. Perhaps it is too late to change. I was glad I did. I will post the painting today so you can see what I mean.
I had an older person pose for me at an event this week. She wanted no double chin or wrinkles. So I said, "What are artists for?" and proceeded to draw her, realizing that the drawing would not look like her, and that she would probably not be happy anyway. I like being true to a person's likeness, regardless of age. I would rather draw or paint them just as they look in all their splendor, than try to "improve" them. She is happy. Keep it that way. Nice job.
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