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Clive,
I agree, this is really successful in so many ways. First of all, he comes across so well as a guy you might meet somewhere--but totally individual. The expression could only belong to him. Same with the pose. The watermelon works compositionally and as a meaningful object. It reminds me of one of my favorite Copley portraits of a plump middle-aged woman with a bowl of fruit from her garden; she was known for her green thumb and generosity.
The other thing about your portraits that I admire is the originality of design, the understanding of how to pare down a painting to the essentials and arrange them with the utmost economy and intelligence. Oh, and the colors are great, too--not invented, but seen with a different kind of eye!
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