Suggest a pricing scheme, helpful serious answers please?

Question

Much appreciated comments on my website yesterday which will be taken under advisory (more professional photographs shall be taken). Another key to the puzzle of working as an artist is pricing, I have some vague ideas of pricing for my works in mind but it's a very difficult thing to guage. i know that it is partly dependant on locasion but I would be very pleased if people could suggest a ballpark figure for pricing for these works in either the American or UK art markets. (I was advised last night to mention that these paintings are sexually explicit i.e. realist female nudes). www.artforall.20megsfree.com/new

Answer 1

I am guessing you are new to all of this, I have looked at your paintings and they are quite good, so I will try to give you my experience.
I would say the most important thing is to protect the work, you can only produce so many paintings in a liftime, so when you sell a piece you want it to go to the right place to help your career.
Go slow and become aware of your market, start with your local galleries, find them and begin to let yourself be known to them, develop friendly relations with them, they will be doing a lot for you, and let the right gallery emerge out of that.
It is best to not worry about price too much in the beginning and especially don't price high, let your work get out there and establish it's own value.
But to start with, an unrepresented new artist should be quit happy with $1,000.00-1,500.00 for a painitng the size of your own. When they get to a gallery the price will probably go to $1,500.00-2,500.00.

Answer 2

It was suggested to me, that until you build a client base or name for yourself, that you should consider yourself "skilled labor", check around to see what hourly rates skilled labor demands in your market, and price according to how long it took you to produce a particular piece. As your work begins to sell, you can slowly increase your 'wage' based upon demand. It's a nice starting point, along with cost of materials and all...