Desperate

Have you tried using pure white, as that is what a spotlight looks like?  With a small flat brush, lightly encircle your main character's legs and feet with light strokes so that the maroon shows though.  Look at a picture of someone in the spotlight.  The spot is around their legs and feet, slightly off center.  Let me know how this works for you.  I work in oils so if it doesn't work, you can easily push the paint around until it does.  Good luck and congratulations on getting back to painting.  The same thing is happening to me!

Oh, I'm so glad!  I just finished a painting I started 3 years ago!  Before that, I hadn't painted in many years.  It feels good, yes?  yes!  I hope to see some of your work someday.  I believe the artist inside never dies.  It just takes a rest when it need to.  I hope everyday is an inspiration for you.  The sunrise is my muse.  A brand new day that's never been touched!

The white paint works. however practice on something first.  very little white.  Go very lightly. Get a small canvas and practice. If your light is coming from the left put your small circle up in the  Left corner and fan out to the right down to the floor.  don't over do it. that is why I tell you to try it on another canvas first. Let me know and good luck  . When I say fan out is because light isn't straight down like a line. Check the light coming into your window and look how it fans out on to your floor. see is to believe

Dear Mara

Talking/writing are in a different domain from Seeing/looking. To attempt to advise you on a visual medium via the written word - image unseen, is going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Visual art, no matter what the media, is not just about getting 'the' right effect, it's about how YOU see and feel about this particular problem. In fact the word 'problem' is the wrong word, art is a process, with no right or wrong conclusions (finished effect). If you are seeking approval from others then you are looking to produce commercial art, or, alternatively, seeking ego satisfaction from your 'art'. That is not what art is or should be about. The problem you are facing, has no external 'fix' from anyone else, it's a creative problem only because you haven't looked deeply enough within your own creativity to discover a resolution. The answer to this artistic problem lies within, only you know what will suffice as a satisfactory solution - like love, when you see it, you'll know.

My suggestion to you, is to be courageous, take a risk and discover for yourself what is wrong with your spotlight problem. When you achieve a satisfactory solution (Not THE solution), you'll know by a sense of satisfaction, a pleasurable sense of Ahh, that's it! THAT experience; Ahh!, can never be given to you from outsiders like me or anyone else.

If on the other hand, this is a commercial job you are doing, seek out a graphic designer, or, look at a how to book like Corel Painter X, there are plenty of them to help you solve a graphic problem, but remember, you are seeking advice from folk just like yourself, the only difference is they persisted in their craft till they won through and became technically competent at solving 'problems'. You can do the same - unless, of course you are working to a deadline, ut that's another story.