...Progress?

I am beginning to think that I should name this one Waste of Paint...  I mean, I knew going into it that it would have more than a few faults being my first oil painting in over a decade, but I just don't know where the hell to go with it:

On the other hand I think the one below is coming together a bit better than the the painting above; It's far from perfect and I think it is suffering from the same things the first one is; namely my lack of quality brushes, scale (I think the figures are too small), and the issues of approaching it, not like an oil painting, but like an Aquarelle.

I think I need some pointers from someone who legitimately knows how to paint with oils.

On yet another hand ... I think that my "portraits" are coming along nicely. Of the 5 (?) or so paintings I am experimenting on, they are the ones that I worked on the least early on, and also most recently.

A few things of note; I don't feel they suffer the issues of scale that my figure studies suffer from:

1) They are larger details and this allows one to more accurately build the shape.
2) They are not being approached like an Aquarelle (Watercolor)
3) There is an actual environment for them to exist in (currently exhibited in the first of the 2)

I am trying 2 different methods in how I approach each of these pieces; in the first I am trying to underlay the cool low-lights of the skin-tone and in the second, just the reverse with the warm tones... I hope one of them works out!

oh well... life goes on & paint dries.