Help in finding my style & technique!

I am an uneducated part time artist, well, one who does a few animal commissions and occassionally paints in my spare time! I recently had one of my paintings accepted to be hung in a local gallery, my first ever and I was so excited. I then went to see the picture and I hate it! When I see it next to the other artists they have such instantly recognisable style and I ended up feeling disappointed in my own work. I have looked back through my old works, from when I did summer school at art college and they are fluid and loose in technique, which is miles away from where I am now. I think having used pastels & done pet portraits that I have become so bogged down in detail and perfection and I dont like it. Can anyone suggest a medium I should try, to help losen up my style? Any artists I should look at to give me inspiration to free everything up? I hope I can add a couple pictures to show how restricted Ive got from when I first started - the first is in acrylic and done about 10yrs ago, the second is what my work is like now, in pastel...i just feel i want to express more and think the pastels are not helping me..