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You are too kind! Thanks, Linda.
Ready "to bear the slings and arrows" yourself, are you? Well, this is a beautiful and sensitive portrait so you don't have anything to worry about!
Somebody once said that the chief function of a background is to go "back". (Who was that? John de la Vega?) With that in mind I have darkened some areas and unified some others. I really like the transparent sienna wash effect you have in the background on the left so I replicated that elsewhere. I think it's okay to have the hair on the right side of his forehead get lost somewhat so I don't think you need to lighten that area of background in order to make that edge visible.
I also softened a lot of other edges that are some distance away from the center of interest. I found the sharp edged, high contrast folds of the sleeve to be a bit of an "eye trap", as well as the checks on the couch behind him. I darkened the upper part of the couch, too, to make it go back.
Like Steven, I also wondered about the complexity of the nose shapes.
Overall though, it's gorgeous!
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