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Mara, it is indeed a brave attempt and you managed to capture a certain light very well.
I know about the frustration of painting from a photo too so I feel very sympathetic.
I will say something with my usual harsh manner, but I think that ,since it took you one day to paint this (who are you, Speedy Gonzales ?), you won't take it badly.
I think you approached this lovely subject with a photographic eye: you chose a pic where the baby was in focus and rather still and you centered your own focus on her, and made the rest of the painting blurry. Our vision of this painting is like a cone, with the tip on the head, everything else is unstructured and there are no strong vertical or horizontal lines.
I think that a more interesting approach could have been exactly the opposite: the chair, the throw, especially the corner which is closer to us, are still objects, and we know it. The baby instead is moving, she is the one that could be blurry, undefined.
If you are into life painting maybe you could have another go at this work and keep the setting in front of you while you work from the photo ( but don't leave the baby, she'd fall!), and concentrate on the feel of her weight and roundness (which you have already quite captured) but not getting too specific about features, trying to leave them soft.
Look at Mary Cassatt, the master of baby paintings, her pictures are both pretty and strong. Sorolla's works on the beach might also help.
I am not sure if this is the kind of critique you wanted to hear as it involves reworking the whole surface but this is what I honestly think
Ilaria
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