My friend asked me to paint a portrait of her mother for her. I would like it to be a joyful portrait. The reference photo she gave me is dark but shows a happiness and relatedness that I thought was very special.

I am struggling a bit with the background, which I've decided to keep vague. I would have liked the painting to be lighter but that ship has sailed. Two questions:

1) if I keep working on this, can you identify areas that I could tweak that would bring up the success of the composition?

2) if I start again, what elements of this painting should I keep and which should I change?

That's a lot to ask, and I thank you for any thoughts at all.