You have to be a little scared of what you're doing. Otherwise, you just paint the same masterpiece a little worse.

I know people can be a little nervous about swimsuits, but have some fun with it. Believe you can hold it down. If you believe you can hold it down, you can wear it.

I use the iPhone now for information. But with selfies, I don't know what those people are doing. It's like they believe what they see is real, even with the [filters]. And God bless them! But to me, it's not a self-portrait, it's a reality project.

Make a painting you can work on for a long period, and make it look like it doesn't show any effort.

Realist painting has to do with leaving out a lot of detail. I think my painting can be a little shocking in all that it leaves out. But what happens is that the mind fills in what's missing . . . Painting is a way of making you see what I saw.

You have to be a little scared of what you're doing. Otherwise, you just paint the same masterpiece a little worse.

Most important, for openers, work six hours a day, seven days a week for six years. Then if you like it you can get serious about it.