The Secret To So Many Artists Living

If A Picture Wasn't Going Very Well I'd Put A Puppy Dog In It, Always A Mongrel, You Know, Never One Of The Full Bred Puppies. And Then I'd Put A Bandage On Its Foot... I Liked It When I Did It, But Now I'm Sick Of It.

The Secret To So Many Artists Living So Long Is That Every Painting Is A New Adventure. So, You See, They're Always Looking Ahead To Something New And Exciting. The Secret Is Not To Look Back.

Eisenhower Had About The Most Expressive Face I Ever Painted, I Guess. Just Like An Actor's. Very Mobile. When He Talked, He Used All The Facial Muscles. And He Had A Great, Wide Mouth That I Liked. When He Smiled, It Was Just Like The Sun Came Out.

I Talk As I Sketch, Too, In Order To Keep Their Minds Off What I'm Doing So I'll Get The Most Natural Expression I Can From Them. Also, The Talking Helps To Size Up The Subject's Personality, So I Can Figure Out Better How To Portray Him.

I Unconsciously Decided That, Even If It Wasn't An Ideal World, It Should Be. So I Painted Only The Ideal Aspects Of It - Pictures In Which There Are No Drunken Slatterns Or Self-centered Mothers... Only Foxy Grandpas Who Played Baseball With The Kids And Boys Who Fished From Logs And Got Up Circuses In The Backyard.