I Had The Landscape In My Arms

There Are No Rules. That Is How Art Is Born, How Breakthroughs Happen. Go Against The Rules Or Ignore The Rules. That Is What Invention Is About.

What Has Made It Work, Or What Makes Certain Paintings Successful Or Not, Has To Do With My Being A Painter And A Thinking, Feeling Person, More Than My Sex, Color, Height, Origin.

I Had The Landscape In My Arms As I Painted It. I Had The Landscape In My Mind And Shoulder And Wrist.

Every So Often Every Artist Feels, 'i'll Never Paint Again. The Muse Has Gone Out The Window.' In 1985, I Hardly Painted At All For Three Months, And It Was Agonizing. I Looked At Reproductions. I Stared At Matisse. I Stared At The Old Masters. I Stared At The Quattrocento. And I Thought To Myself - Don't Push It! If You Try Too Hard To Get At Something, You Almost Push It Away.

The Price For Living The Life I Have -- For Any Serious, Devoted Person, Is That At Times One Must Live Alone, Or Feel Alone. I Think Loneliness Is Associated In Many People's Minds When They Think About Success.