My advice? Try as hard as you can to avoid the Filters menu. That is the biggest problem I see with people starting out in photoshop. You cannot rely on those filters, otherwise where is the originality? Anyone can put a lens flare and a wave filter on an image, and anyone with experience can tell you exactly what filters were used, just by looking at the image. Its when you can learn how to use the filters sparingly without people noticing them, then you have mastered the use of photoshop.

BTW, I like the painting work much better than the first image. I realize I said this in another thread today too, but I really like the color scheme. That light blue color goes nice with the yellow.