I am isolated as an artist, not as a person.

A painting is finished when the subject comes back, when what has caused the painting to be made comes back as an object.

You keep on balancing and balancing and balancing until the picture wins, because then the subject's turned into the picture.

I'm vulnerable to criticism. Any artist is, because you work alone in your studio and, until recently, critics were the only way you'd get any feedback.

I'm very envious of the few artists who are any good and still do portraits.

I am happy for people to talk about my pictures, but I wish devoutly that I was not expected to talk about them myself.

My friends tend to be writers. I think writers and painters are really all the same-we just sit in our rooms.