Into being

First of all I just wanted to show you a couple of my paintings that I think are decent and a good place to start working from. This painting is currently hanging on the wall in our new lounge. I'm surprised at how many people comment on it and say that they like it. It was an experiment.

This painting was also a bit of a surprise and the third of this 'figure and thing' type work that I've done. Again I'm happy with it and want somehow to retain its feeling in my new stuff.

I told Simon (the artist) about my struggles to make art and he recommended I look at classical paintings, studying them to discover what makes the images successful and then to re-interpret them or their essence in my own. Its quite challenging cos I wouldn't normally be attracted to that kind of art, but I think he might have something, so I'm willing to give it a go. Something I've noticed straight away is the amount of material/imagery packed into so many classical works and my stuff looks very bare in comparison. Its like my images have been cleared of content, either in an attempt to simplify my pictures, or just from a lack of reference - in terms of reality, observational drawings, photos etc. I definitely need to learn to bring more elements into my work though. Another thing I've realised is that I hardly ever paint more than one figure - I can't even think of a painting I've ever done with more than 3 figures! nutty. I can't believe I've never noticed before either.