A painter's tastes must grow out of what so obsesses him in life that he never has to ask himself what it is suitable for him to do in art.

The painter's obsession with his subject is all that he needs to drive him to work.

A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure.

The painter must give a completely free rein to any feeling or sensations he may have and reject nothing to which he is naturally drawn.

The picture is all he feels about it, all he thinks worth preserving of it, all he invests it with. If all the qualities which a painter took from the model for his picture were really taken, no person could be painted twice.

I remember Francis Bacon would say that he felt he was giving art what he thought it previously lacked. With me, it's what Yeats called the fascination with what's difficult. I'm only trying to do what I can't do.