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What a terrific face! My heart leaps when I see this, Jerome, because this is the way I like to paint hair, too. There's a lot to like in this painting - I especially like the way you have handled the various shadow edges (sharper cast shadow from hair) and the softer form shadow edges along the jaw.
The "problem"- and this is just my agenda, and it may not be yours - is that this is so very clearly painted from a photo and I personally prefer paintings to look as if they were painted from life. To do this in outdoor paintings you should try to reduce the light to shadow ratio so that the lights are not so light (no blown-out forms) and the shadow side has more fresh and lively color. Next time you take a photo try this: hang a sheet of gauzey curtain on a pole and filter the sunlight for the shot. Try different fabrics or even a clear garbage bag (thank you Tom Egerton for this tip) to get the ratio that you like. Most of all, spend a lot of time looking at what happens from life and seeing how colors bounce around and reflect on different surfaces.
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