Incorporating "oomph"

I had a nice, pretty post all planned out for today and then...I forgot what I was going to talk about. So instead I've decided to touch base again on the colour project I foisted upon myself at the beginning of Summer. To quickly recap, it was basically started to help myself loosen up and, more importantly, to help me infuse some more dramatic use of colour into my current working style.

So how's it coming? Actually, it's coming along quite nicely, thank you for asking. I've decided to share with you one of my attempts at putting more "oomph" into my regular works. Below is an ACEO I recently completed incorporating some of what I've learned so far:

"Proudly Painted" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I didn't alter my style dramatically but I did manage to incorporate more colour into this that I would have normally. Also, for the background I really put it all out there and I figured I'd either flop with it or be happy with the results. In this case I'm really happy with the results. I realize that this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea but I'm pretty darn pleased with myself.
If I were to change something about it I would have actually added more colour, that is to say more vibrant colour, to the horse. I might have also dulled down the background a bit, maybe with a wash of grey.

I've done some more of the looser pieces but I'll save those for another post. I think this project is working out for me so far and as I progress through more and more looser pieces I find myself becoming more focused with my "tighter" pieces. I'm being much more deliberate with my application of colour, paying attention to and pushing values and weeding out the stuff that really doesn't need to be in the piece to make it work.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've still got miles to go but I'm getting there bit by bit and man, what a ride!