You can’t learn techniques and then try to become a painter. Techniques are a result.
The painting has a life of its own.
I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.
On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.
There is no accident, just as there is no beginning and no end.
Painting is no problem. The problem is what to do when you’re not painting.
The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.
My painting does not come from the easel.
Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source. They work from within.
A canvas is an arena in which to act.
When I say artist I mean the man who is building things – creating molding the earth – whether it be the plains of the west – or the iron ore of Penn. It’s all a big game of construction – some with a brush – some with a shovel – some choose a pen.
When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing.
People have always frightened and bored me consequently I have been within my own shell.
The painter locks himself out of his own studio. And then has to break in like a thief.
I don’t work from drawings. I don’t make sketches and drawings and color sketches into a final painting.
How do you know when you’re finished making love?
I do not paint nature. I am nature.
The process is only a means to an end-creating the painting I want. It doesn’t mean anything itself. It’s only a way of creating a result.
I don’t use the accident – ’cause I deny the accident.
When I’m painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It’s only after a get acquainted period that I see what I’ve been about. I’ve no fears about making changes for the painting has a life of its own.