Hi Gil, love your self-portraits, it might be the best exercise, because you have your character and know what you want to work on. The first pencil drawing is great, I love that strokes of pencil creating the shadows to give a volume, but also very precise work on eyes, nose and beard.

The portrait that is painted is awesome, again nice work on face that is slightly in shadow, that gives a contrast to the forehead that is highlighted with light.