It is an intimately communicative affair between the painter and his painting, a conversation back and forth, the painting telling the painter even as it receives its shape and form.

An ametuer is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.

Of course I realize that photography is not the technical facility as much as it is the eye, and this decision that one makes for the moment at which you are going to snap, you know.

If one has set for himself the position that his painting shall not misconstrue his personal mode of thinking, then he must be rather alert to just what he does think.

The artist is likely to be looked upon with some uneasiness by the more conservative members of society.

Only an individual can imagine, invent, or create. The whole audience of art is an audience of individuals.

I love chaos.... It's the poetic element in a dull and ordered world.

Art almost always has its ingredient of impudence, its flouting of established authority, so that it may substitute its own authority and its own enlightenment.

It may be a point of great pride to have a Van Gogh on the living room wall, but the prospects of having Van Gogh himself in the living room would put a great many devoted art lovers to rout.

The natural reaction of the artist will be strongly towards bringing man back into focus as the center of importance.

To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them.

The atmosphere defines the environment of sound.

When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.

Embrace simplicity…be content with what you have and are, and not one can despoil you.

I hate these questions - I don't like talking about this stuff [popular culture], because it's so... to me, it's so ordinary.

Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves.

My collaborations have to be very positive. I will never work with a person I fight with.

I find happiness comes from numerous sources in my life. Most often, the happy moments I cherish most are quiet moments with my wife and family back home in Nova Scotia.

You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome.

If you do a good act, it cancels the effects of your evil deeds. If one prays, takes the Name of God and thinks of Him, the effects of evil are cancelled.

Wouldn't it be good to forget everything even if it's just for tonight? Indulge in pleasure... breathe a sweet poison deep into your lungs.