Comparison Piece Part A or "The Only Thing I Will Never Give Up"

This is a horrible photo of my painting, but it is the only full sized shot that I took of it.  Pictured are Larry and his dog Abdiel.

This is a self portrait that I hid in the painting.  I wanted to thank Larry for being so helpful so I was going to send him a poster-sized copy of it.  This little self portrait is like a second signature, especially since I place the signature in the yellow window...

Things that I can tell you about now: Abdiel was painted from a photograph, I wanted the homeless man to have a companion.  The alleyway is the same alley that is behind my shop.  I had no idea how colorful it actually was until I took a photograph of it.  There was no way I was about to actually paint the picture there, especially with that dumpster back there. Icky!
I had a lot of fun doing this one, it actually came second between the two, but I think it's my favorite.