Thistles (?) are a good choice for this as they are both soft and spiky which fits your 'Bittersweet theme' and I think also lend themselves to the light/dark of the layers.
A rich, fascinating shot.
I'm not quite sure about the face - on one level it is a cool extra level that takes a moment to notice, I guess the question for me is whether it adds a level of poignancy and adds to the bigger picture, or whether it is interesting but distracts slightly from the whole thistle thing.
To be honest I have no idea - and that is probably a good thing because it leaves me thinking and wondering which is after all what any good image should do. |