In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter.

I don't think the Palestinian people or Afghan children or some other things I'm concerned about are at the top of other people's agendas - not right now, when America is going through such a recession and people are suffering across the board financially. But I think all that will change.

Committing great work does not necessarily feed you.

If you over-plan, you close the door on possibilities.

People like beauty and purity. They pretend that's what it's all about.

I don't wear makeup. I can't stand nothin' on my face. It's a phobia. It's not a platform.

I'm old-fashioned. I think William Blake and people in the Renaissance people were multi. Look at da Vinci, he was involved in science; and Michelangelo was dabbling in poetry. Both of them were painters and sculptors but they also involved themselves with architecture. I honestly don't know what happened in the '60s and '70s. If you sang rock and roll in America at that time or were involved in expressing yourself through music like that, then many thought you couldn't possibly be an artist. That thinking is archaic.