My subject matter was a genuine sort of experience that came out of my life, particularly the American world in which I was privileged to be . . . . I would really think of the bakery counters, of the way the counter was lit, where the pies were placed, but I wanted just a piece of the experience. From when I worked in restaurants . . . [it was] always poetic to me.

Every paint-stroke takes you farther and farther away from your initial concept. And you have to be thankful for that.

My sin as a painter is that I just want to paint anything I want to paint - and repaint.

A conscious decision to eliminate certain details and include selective bits of personal experiences or perceptual nuances, gives the painting more of a multi-dimension than when it is done directly as a visual recording. This results in a kind of abstraction... and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration.

The Gold Rush and the Pony Express made Sacramento a substantial place in terms of enterprise.

Common objects become strangely uncommon when removed from their context and ordinary ways of being seen.

Art means something very rare, an extraordinary achievement.