Art Question: I'm Dissatisfied. What's Next?

This is the painting I have been working on while not painting chickens. I am trying to work two different techniques together into one canvas and I AM NOT HAPPY with what is happening.

What is Happening?I originally darkened the background behind the tree (Oliver) so that the light leaves would have some contrast and some "pop!" But as I started painting the leaves in front of the darker background, I was becoming dissatisfied with what was happening. I feel like the leaves somehow aren't detailed enough and the new trunks are just horrendous; they have no touch, no sense of "trunkness", no sense of real space about them. They are sitting on the surface of the canvas and laying a big old turd. I stopped painting them in the middle of painting the one on the right.

Perhaps even more important, I don't feel like painting more realistically right now, and I don't think the painting wants me to. The chicken was good. That painting called for some realism. The object itself also had some nice abstract elements. This landscape - bahhhh!

So What Do I Do About It?After a pound of chocolate and a half bottle of chianti...
I move to a different part of the painting. After Oliver had completely frustrated me, I then began painting on the left hand side of the painting. This area is more abstract and I had figured out previously I wanted to darken the background color I was using. So I started painting this area with a purple. I started to like what I was seeing. The darker purple is flattening the space and making the drawing aspects stand out more, which is what I want in this area. I also like the purple color next to the orangey-brown of the lines. But then I ran out of the white paint I need to make my purple - CURSES! Why is this world against me!
So, next time I am in the studio, after I bike to the art store to get some white, I will continue working on the purple background. Once the rest of the painting is working, it will tell me the next step with Oliver.