The spirit of a painting is very hard to explain and articulate. I can't say it's not intentional because that is the mark I'm trying to hit, however I don't feel I have much control over it.

I sometimes use music as way of getting back to a certain time, dredging up stuff from the past and putting it down on canvas.

Some of my work is very instinctive, some of my favourite things I've ever done are just two minute sketches, nothing is better when you get it like that so quick, then other work takes months.

I don't really need to be inspired by literature though. At the end of the day it's colour and imagery moved around until it works.

Women really like the horses, more so than men.

Sometimes I just want to sit and write at a clean table and not get paint all over my hands.

Painting can be like poetry but as somebody who creates both I feel the necessity for both so they cant be that similar. Sometimes I think it's as basic as not wanting to get dirty.

I used to use a lot of words in the paintings but stopped because it created a narrative - or an answer to a question.

If you can see a world within a portrait I would be happy with that. I don't want to tell the story with a painting, though. I'm trying to get away from the story- from the beginning and the ending.

I have no way of knowing what you are going to feel when you look at one of my paintings; I only know what I feel.

I like to listen to a lot of classical music when I'm painting, the most simplistic stuff I can find. I like simple piano.

Never modify your goals, amplify your might.

I don't know who a character is till I look into their eyes.

I never smile unless I mean it.

No matter what the situation is...close your eyes and think of all the things you could be grateful for in your life right now.

Veganism is about nonviolence: nonviolence to other sentient beings; nonviolence to yourself; nonviolence to the earth.

Two of my biggest heroes were my father and John Wayne.

Fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight.

I also think the women's movement has unintentionally contributed to the dishonoring of motherhood. It happened because we made such a big deal about our right to go out into the world.

What we seek we do not find - that would be too trim and tidy for so reckless and opulent a thing as life. It is something else we find.

I was thrown in the deep end at 18 when I got cast in a movie that I didn't audition for. The director just sort of found me and put me in a film, so the decision was really made for me.