I want paint to work as flesh... my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them ... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does.

It is the only point of getting up every morning: to paint, to make something good, to make something even better than before, not to give up, to compete, to be ambitious.

The process of creation becomes necessary to the painter perhaps more than is the picture. The process in fact is habit-forming

I don't want any colour to be noticeable... I don't want it to operate in the modernist sense as colour, something independent... Full, saturated colours have an emotional significance I want to avoid.

The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art

Full, saturated colours have an emotional significance I want to avoid.

Losing as much money as I can get hold of is an instant solution to my economic problems.