I'm trying to entice people, and sometimes my information is very hard hitting. So I've always wanted to have a soft approach.

I really work hard to shape the song so that it's attractive... You don't want to give people the information in an enema.

There is an exercise I teach at colleges: Get yourself a canvas and a bunch of acrylics and go into a very dimly lighted room. Dip a brush into one of the colors, slap it on the canvas, don't look, close your eyes, make a painting, don't look, turn the lights on and see what you've got. I think this releases people from the editor in their life that's always standing over their shoulder saying, "Oh, you don't have any talent; who do you think you are?"

The time I save setting up and cleaning up probably balances out by the time I spend on output.

Digital art software has empowered both the painterly side of photographers, and the photographer side of painters.

I had a teacher's degree and a degree in Oriental Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts. I thought I was going to India to study but all of a sudden, I had a career in music. It really surprised me.

The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii.