Monet, Manet, Sisley, Renoir, Van Gogh and others went outside to paint for one simple reason - it looks different outside.

When we look at a painting, listen to a piece of music, read a novel, or watch a movie we are taking in the artist's composition. The composition is the totality of the work.

The difficult part of the process is the long exploration and discovery of your own soul and living with the results.

A painting with a message does not happen by accident. It happens when you place elements in their order of importance.

Being true to oneself more often leads one toward success rather than away from it.

Think of the centre of interest in a painting as you would read it in a novel or see it in a movie. The crisis or climax is that point when you simply can't put the book down or wouldn't dare leave the movie, for whatever reason.

The wide open nature of any truly creative artistic endeavor is one of its most important virtues, and one of its harshest realities. Only the most determined, hardest working, capable and creative will make their way to earning a good living by their art.