"The Teacher" can improve
 

Hello,

My name is Connie Werner. I am a serious portrait painter

Hi Connie,

You've done a very nice job on this. The only thing I would look at is the tip of her nose, it could be a bit rounder or pointier on her left side. It looks a little "pushed in" to me. Also look again at the position of the highlight down the centre of the nose. Needs to move towards the left side of her face more. :)

Hi Connie,

I am still too new to oils to offer a critique, but I would like to say, I think you have done a lovely job with the fur of her coat.

I think you have caught the image of your photo well, but it is a little lacking in value on my screen, prehaps a copy (xerox of a photo?), it might just be what I am seeing. If it does need a value punch, I am sure the pros can jump in here and tell you how to pull that out.

I have mentioned before that I think it must be hard to translate a black and white photo to color, I know I struggle with color reference, can you post some of your work with using color or from life too? I'd love to see it! :)

Light Source
 

Lovely work!

I would like to see more of a commitment to the light source coming from viewer's right with lighter lights there and darker darks on the shadow side.

Variety is the spice of portraits. There is a consistency of value, color temperature, and edges here that could benefit from playing around more.

Massing some of the hair together in areas with many strands would add volume.

I would encourage to you take more classes whenever possible. There is no substitute for the live model and camaraderie of painters to improve one's work.

Enjoy the journey,
Jeanine

You've chosen a very difficult reference photo to work from. Having good reference is three quarters of the battle. Inventing colors and working with such flat lighting would challenge even the most experienced portrait artist on this site.

You might want to study the tips in the Forum section on taking your own reference photos, or as Jeanine suggested, try and get some practice painting from a live model. It will be much easier and you'll be happier with your results.