Looks much better, relief carving is basically playing with light and shadow, exactly the same as drawing. In a drawing you really get the 3 dimensional perception when you draw/paint shadows on it. On a carving that is achieved by raising and lowering the shapes and undercutting. By painting that groove black you have enhanced the "shadow" and that's why it looks better. However, as I told you I'd rather carve away the whole background. I'm not saying you should do it on this one, but try it on the next one. It will ease your carving as you will be able to put your gouges in a more shallow angle against the wood and you won't struggle in cleaning and undercutting the edges.