What DO people want?

I was engaged in idle chatter with my landlord the other day - he had half his body inside a cooker at the time: it's a Zanussi, which should tell you everything you need to know - and wondered why it was that I haven't sold much for some time (it would help if I tried to market them, I expect, and I really don't).  "Paint something people want to buy" was his response, muffled by the oven casing, and rapidly followed by a VERY naughty word - I did think he'd been better brought up - as he dropped a wire he particularly needed into an inaccessible space. Now leaving aside whether we should try to appeal to the market place rather than paint what we most want to paint, this does raise the question of "how are we supposed to know?".  I chased Google for an answer - the responses varied, but "abstracts to suit their décor" (thank you but no), to "landscapes", to "figure studies (not nudes)".   I do paint landscapes: LOVELY they are, and if you should want one, don't let me stand in your way: prise it from my fingers.  But while they shift if someone is actively looking for one as a present for Uncle Wilf who has everything else he could possibly need, they aren't moving otherwise.  Paint dogs, someone suggested - well, I have painted dogs, but I've never wanted to be a pet artist; that's a trap for the unwary.  I have no interest in painting abstracts, and if I did I wouldn't do it in colours to match someone's curtains and soft furnishings.  I suppose I might, if I sought to make a living out of it.  And I begin now to understand a late friend of mine who was a very good artist, but hated painting to please - he pleased others, but rarely himself; because we live - lived, in his case - on the Isle of Wight, he found people wanted pictures of "bloody yachts" (he didn't actually say "bloody", but I don't wish to offend sensitive eyes).  He would favour purchasers with a rictus grin which, were they to have looked closer, would have revealed a rather sinister degree of pure hatred.   So I suppose I know really why I don't sell much - I stand in my own way.  I like dogs, but don't want to paint them all the time; I like to paint landscape, but do not wish to show everything in full bloom at the height of summer (which didn't stop a particularly dim gallery owner - Conservative councillor: what else does one expect? - suggesting that one of mine was a bit "chocoate box"; had I my way, my duck, you'd be in a box yourself, and chocolate would have nothing to do with it).   Still - the odd sale does help with the purchase of paint; and I get a little peeved by the number of unsold canvases lurking around the flat; so, if you have the magic key to prosperity, perhaps you'd share it.  What does sell?  I know you have to make an effort, and I'm not, but anyway - what do you paint that sends people diving into their inner pockets for the wallet, or delving into the handbag?    

He did get it out.  Unfortunately, he then found that the bit he thought was wrong with the oven - wasn't that at all.  More fruity language ensued....