I don't know what Art is but I know some things it isn't when I see them.

I believe I would rather have Stieglitz like something - anything I had done - than anyone else I know.

His letters ... have been like fine cold water when you are terribly thirsty.

I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.

I know I can not paint a flower, I can not paint the sun on the desert on a bright summer morning but maybe in terms of paint colour I can convey to you my experience of the flower or the experience that makes the flower of significance to me at that particular time.

I decided to start anew-to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true my own thinking. This was one of the best times of my life. There was no one around to look at what I was doing, no one interested, no one to say anything about it one way or another. I was alone and singularly free, working into my own, unknown-no one to satisfy but myself. I began with charcoal and paper and decided not to use any color until it was impossible to do what I wanted to do in black and white. I believe it was June before I needed blue.

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.