Heavy Texture and "Realism"

I've been trying to create paintings with my new-to-me texture on a smaller scale. These are my Square Footers, 12 x 12. In the first, I tried to loose my new dependence on outlining, but the work ends up more realistic than I had planned. The second paintings is a definite extension of my recent work--on a more common topic, flowers. What do you think?