On my way to becoming an artist there were several influences/inspirations/'moments of clarity' which were clues to steer me in the right direction.
An important one was the art my daughter was producing when she was about 3 years old. With only colouring pencils she would produce the most wonderful compositions, with great space and light.
These made a big impression on me and simply made me want to paint.
A lot of my earlier paintings were a little like this, having a very singular and direct quality.
Thanks Aiko.

In the summer of 1989 while I was an architecture student I bought some oil paints, which I kept (unused) in a little tin box. Although completely forgotten I always preciously held onto the box of oil paints wherever I moved. At one point I even tried to give them away to an Aunt of mine who is an artist, but she told me to keep them - I might use them someday. Eventually in early 2012 (23 years later!) I finally took them out and began to make some little oil compositions on old teak boards. I was happy with the results.
In Thailand I met an artist who works solely in oils and he told me why he loves it so much - 'it's like cooking'. Yeah, I got it, especially when you put it on really thick. My cooking style is similar to how I paint, I don't quite know how it's going to come out, just throw a lot of stuff in the pot and go with it.
It took me a long time to get around to it but the important thing is that I did, eventually - don’t give up your dreams.