Painting is something that requires a lot of time - it's not just one good idea out of art school.

If you come every day or every month to my studio, you won't see that much change, but if you come once a year, you'll see big new categories opened up.

I'm not such an artist type that I can't handle the real world. I read the financial pages, because most people don't talk about art.

I think I was very lucky to have grown up with an artist's studio in the house. It was a kind of life that was possible. Yeah, it made it kind of harder because the standards were higher, but there was no pressure.

For me becoming a painter was an Everest, in terms of what I thought a painter was. There are many roads to becoming an artist. For me it wasn't art school. I didn't have that go to art school and then get a gallery. It's more like, how deep is your inner library to cull from. It's certainly not about technical prowess, just about depth of investigation. It takes time. I had 15 years of painting under my belt before my first New York show. I was glad to have that. It's a good thing to spend your twenties getting your craft.

The world of painting has nothing to do with the art world.

My 20s were spent in a room, alone, mixing paints and figuring it all out.