Hi there!
I don't realy have much to add to the discussion. I just wanted to mention that I found the portrait striking, as others have said, and I am finding the discussion of hands, posing, and empty space to be valuable and interesting.
Also, in the way of names, I noticed your last name "Quintus." Quintus is a Roman man or boy's name, in use during ancient Rome when Latin was being spoken. I have no idea how directly this would be related to your last name, but I thought it was interesting considering your comment above.
I can't remember the meaning of Quintus, but I'll ask my Latin teacher again and report back.
Nice work and I would be interested to see any experiments that you do with this composition!