Hey! cool progression. The first one had it's flaws, but I actually enjoyed it as well. The light house, as well as the bucket and towel seemed to indicate narrative/ gameplay ( the lighthouse being a place to go to later, and the items perhaps things to interact with/ acquire?)
As for the new one, I think the biggest issue is piggybacking on some of the colors of your reference, as well as not using the scale of your details to your advantage. You have multiple evenly spaced "bands" in your ocean, with only a few similarly sized ripples to try and blend them. Something more gradual, and with more variation would work better here.
My edit is more on the "realistic" side, but it could easily be toned back down to something simpler and cartoony. However, the fundamentals remain the same.
Here is the reference I used. Things to note are the more natural colors of the ocean, and it having less contrast due to being further away.
Games with art you like are a great source of reference, but don't forget about reality, too! Of course even better than pictures is seeing the real thing, but not many can go look at a lonely shack on the beach cliff whenever we want.
Good work so far; keep pushing pixels
