My mother thought I would have a hard life as a painter. My father thought the highest thing a person could be was an architect. Below that was a painter. So he thought it was much better than being, say, a doctor.

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.

Paint faster than you can think.

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

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

If you know what you're doing, you're doing dull stuff.

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.