I tried to learn the violin for a while.

I have to experiment with methods and I'm trying to find an authentic way of making an equivalent of the living, breathing person within the limits of a single picture.

I have never subscribed to the Dirty Pallet school of painting.

I used to paint landscapes without any people in them but now I paint people who happen to be in a particular place. They might be outside a pub, or on a beach or in a studio. They might have clothes on or they might not.

When I look at some of my old work, the pieces I find most interesting are the ones with people in them.

I've had to do all kinds of jobs to pay the rent. I've even worked in a Cornish tin mine.

I felt the need to get back to painting and I thought the best way was to start drawing, so I enrolled in a life drawing class. I soon discovered that people made very interesting subjects and I am still surprised that I had never discovered it before.

I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it?

I think most people see drawing as subservient to the subject, a sort of meditation, a studying, a searching observation, in my case, for its own sake.

You could always go on changing things but there comes a time when you have to decide to stop.

As a kid I quite fancied the romantic, Bohemian idea of being an artist. I expect I thought I could escape from the difficulties of maths and spelling. Maybe I thought I would avoid the judgement of the establishment.

I had been living with dialysis for three years or so, and the new kidney felt like a reprieve, a new gift of life. I felt alive again and I guess that has had an effect on my use of colour.

I tried to learn the violin for a while.

Painting is seen as picture making, the making of an art object, something that can stand on its own.

You can't tell what's aboard a container ship. We carried every kind of cargo, all of it on view: a police car, penicillin, Johnnie Walker Red, toilets, handguns, lumber, Ping-Pong balls, and IBM data cards.

We can finish a house, but never a home. Once you fall in love with a house, you find continual pleasures in fixing it up and making innovations that satisfy your creature's comforts.

I don't put people down. I build people up. That's how I always wanna be looked at.

I understand exactly what I am.

No matter how many plans you make or how much in control you are, life is always winging it.

I used to beat myself up about weight and working out, and no matter what I did I never felt good about myself. I decided to accept myself and know that I am good.

On stage, you've got dialogue you've learned. You've got a paying audience. It couldn't be better, you know?

My creative process is quite slow. I hear melodies in my head while I'm washing the dishes and I allow my subconscious to do the work.

I don't really think of myself as a heartthrob. I've got a lot of brothers, and there's a natural competitiveness between us when it comes to girls. If I said something about being a heartthrob, then they would bring me straight back down to earth!

I love emotional, intense stuff; it's easier to grab onto than just being simple. Being simple and relaxed can be the hardest thing. It can be easier to get your hooks into something big.

Everyone at Junction Point has been inspired by the creative folks at Pixar and Disney Feature Animation to make 'entertainment for everyone.'

There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society to retreat ahead of it.

Trust your gut.

Young people can be annoying, let's face it. But they can also be really refreshing to be around and full of enthusiasm.

Old people at weddings always poke me and say, "You're next." So I started doing that at funerals.

I remember once I read a book on mental illness and there was a nurse that had gotten sick. Do you know what she died from? From worrying about the mental patients not being able to get their food. She became a mental patient.

I always see myself as, like, equal to everyone.

Mel Gibson was lovely. He was on the edge of both scenes that I had with Danny Glover.

We were just a bunch of high school kids who got into the Ramones together.

I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves.

I would love to do more acting; I really would love to do it, particularly character acting. I'm a character type of actor; I love situations where I've got a bit of room to improvise on the character.

I do not outline. There are writers I know and count as my friends who certainly do it the other way, but for me, part of the adventure is not knowing how it's going to turn out.

Nature's message was always there and for us to see. It was written on the wings of butterflies.

The longer we listen to one another - with real attention - the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories and not simply opinions.