The painter locks himself out of his own studio. And then has to break in like a thief.

When I am in a painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc, because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.

I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.

I don't work from drawings. I don't make sketches and drawings and color sketches into a final painting.

Modern art to me is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age that we're living in.

When I am painting I have a general notion as to what I am about. I can control the flow of paint: there is no accident.

Modern art to me is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age we’re living in. All cultures have had means and techniques of expressing their immediate aims – the Chinese, the Renaissance, all cultures. The thing that interests me is that today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source, they work from within.