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.

Part of what Im about is seeing how I can paint the same thing differently instead of different things the same way.

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.

You have to find what your temperament is like and live around it. I find I work really well off the top of my head because you get the unconscious into it. Otherwise, it's just an idea. And I'm not so hot there.

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.

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

What makes everything one is the style.