Applying colour to my own work

Now I am no expert on colour but, my time spent in lessons would surely be wasted if I didn't start applying it to my own work. When painting I now question what colour is that skin tone, what colour should I put in the background to make the the subject pop. Of course I'll clumsily select a complimentary and the proceed to stumble my way through hours of rendering but the point is these colour theory lessons have definitely influenced my thinking and approach toward art work I produce.

  

I tried to work complimentary red/green into this study of reds and green. The red isn't popping as much as I would like it too I think the green has too much yellow