Inspiration is for amateurs. professionals work everyday. Personally the best inspiration is a deadline.

Ease is the enemy of the artist. When things get too easy, you're in trouble.

In the 7th grade, I made a 20-foot long mural of the Lewis and Clark Trail while we were studying that in history because I knew I wasn't going to be able to spit back the names and the dates and all that stuff on a test.

I think the problem with the arts in America is how unimportant it seems to be in our educational system.

The first thing I do is take Polaroids of the sitter - 10 or 12 color Polaroids and eight or 10 black-and whites.

I did some pastels and I did other pieces in which there was just basically one color per square, and then they would get bigger and I could get 2 or 3 colors into the square, and ultimately I just started making oil paintings.

I'm very learning-disabled, and I think it drove me to what I'm doing.