I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.

The morning is the best time, there are no people around. My pleasant disposition likes the world with nobody in it.

I believe an artist is the last person in the world who can afford to be affected.

The clean clear colours were in my head. But one day as I looked at the brown burned wood of the Shanty, I thought 'I can paint one of those dismal-coloured paintings like the men. I think just for fun I will try - all low-toned and dreary with the tree besides the door.' In my next show, 'The Shanty' went up. The men seemed to approve of it. They seemed to think that maybe I was beginning to paint. That was my only low-toned dismal-coloured painting.

I took back a barrel of bones to New York. They were my symbols of the desert, but nothing more. I haven't seen enough to think of any other symbolism. The skulls were there and I could say something with them.

I am trying with all my skill to do a painting that is all woman, as well as all of me.

Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression.