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How finished is this painting?
I am confused, as this painting is very finished around the face and hair, and unfinished in the rest of the canvas. This approach to painting runs the risk of discomnnecting the face and head from the background. Often this creates a floating head effect. My rule is cover the canvas before you detail, so you can incorporate the background colors and strokes into the faces and bodies. Here, the faces will not reflect the background, as they are already finished.
Just because the face is the most important aspect of the painting, does not mean we should get it all done first. The rest of the painting has to come along with it, and in this case, maybe precede it. In a vignet, the background is very important to bring into the subject even more, because it is more of a consideration to the composition; color, value, contrast and direction. These are decisions that have to be made almost before finishing the face and body.
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