All my siblings became artists. One's a novelist, my brother is a painter, my sister was a costume designer.

At the snowy summit of all these things, however, is the fact that you simply cannot go about locking your siblings in towers when they misbehave. It is unseemly and betrays a sad lack of creativity.

When I have a creative block, I take walks. I like to see what shapes stick out - so many legs rushing by at once, it can seem abstract. I don't need to see great art to get stirred up. Music does that for me more easily.

My 20s were spent in a room, alone, mixing paints and figuring it all out.

Most days, I practice piano in the mornings and I spend the rest of the day painting.

My uniform is sweatpants, so crusted over with dried paint that they're as hard as a table. I wear T-shirts that are also covered in paint, and Crocs.