Nice work, John, as always. I agree, I like the one with the shadows the best. They add a lot of interest.
I don't have a picture of my first portrait anymore, but here's my first digital portrait...
Didn't really know what it was going to be when I started out, but I just got my first Wacom tablet and wanted to try it out.
And here's one of my latest ones...
I gave up on tablets. This was all mouse.