Cool! I'm curious, Wayne; were you trying out palettes or working on staying loose? The bottom one seems like it wants to be an abstract while the top one seems more orderly like Terri said.
Yes, the first was working on a palette and unintentionally, I went more formal with the subject. In the second I moved back to not as representational in subject matter.
The Lesson From The Couple of Studies is simply this.
If I want to make a statement I need to put paint on my support. The first is a painting but it lacks the punch that color can provide. Hue and intensity is a great part of value so I have to remember that value has those two major characteristics. Changing one or two of them is key to depth of field and atmosphere. Of course if I were painting flat plain then atmosphere is removed from the formula. Since I want the illusion of life I need to have atmosphere and after a study of a study I know what I need to do to transfer that to my next painting.