Mental map results

My Life in Books, 48" by 36", oil on canvas, 2016

Here's the results of my first assignment with Sandra Meigs. The comments from the other students were mostly based on how they liked my use of grey and red/orange for the palette. The other thing was hearing the ambiguous reading of the figure sleeping on a pillow of books. I didn't get  a lot else which was kind of disappointing aside from perhaps adding a third colour and maybe the reading of the painting shows a potential book cover in itself. The literary theme certainly was pointed out. I'm wondering what it is I'm expecting to hear from my peers and prof?

I guess I'm thinking back to when I had a painting class with Thomas Chisholm and it seemed like every class I was learning something new and fascinating. I definately think I have loads to learn, but how do I access that? I kind of wish my painter friends from Thomas's class were there with me now. We had some good dialogue and back and forth.

Questions I wished we had time to talk about are: what's not working in the painting? What could be made clearer/more resolved? Is the feeling conveyed right for my intent? Is there anything I've overlooked in terms of technique and craft?

Where can I go to get these kinds of questions answered? Or at least discussed?