Scribbles and rewrites seem crazy as I’m making them. The small voice in my head tells me this painting is bullshit and asks me why I am making these random gestures. But I let that voice chatter on, and I move beyond it continuing to make marks. I put the work away, come back to it a few days later and finish the painting. I realize it doesn’t have to be logical. It just needs to express my inner spirit.

It's more like I'm having an experience than making a picture. So I've never had anyone around. I never have. People are different, but I have to really be with no interference. And it takes me hours. Painting a picture is a very short thing if it goes well, but the sitting and thinking.. .I usually go off on stories that have nothing to do with the painting, and sometimes I sit in the opposite room to where I work. If I can get a good hot story I can paint better, but sometimes I'm not thinking about the painting, I'm thinking about the subject. Lots of times I'll sit in another room and then I might just go in. It takes a lot of freedom. —Cy Twombly