Mums portrait is annoying me..

I'm not going to do anything until I can go back out and paint from mum but the flesh highlights look too pasty..I think the fact that I haven't done the eyse & mouth are probably not helping + maybe I need to change the background colour and break up the highlights a bit with other colours..I'll sit on it & jot down any thoughts I have over the next few weeks..Sometimes they look bad just because thats a stage they are going through.You shouldn't really judge them until all areas are worked on equally..i.e - eyes & mouth are done.