CY TWOMBLY

I work in an impatient way.

I'm not an abstractionist completely.

I used to change things in my early paintings to get the nuance or feeling I wanted, but now I plan everything in my head before I do it.

I don't work 9 to 5.

I was brought up to think you don't talk about yourself.

To my mind, one does not put oneself in place of the past; one only adds a new link.

Graffiti is linear, and it's done with a pencil, and it's like writing on walls.

I swear if I had to do this over again, I would just do the paintings and never show them.

I look at a lot of artists. I'm inspired by - I suppose I shouldn't say 'inspired,' but it's not really influenced. I am inspired. Art comes from art.

I love my sculptures, and I was lucky I had them for 50 years because no one would look at them, and I really liked having them around.

Once I said to my mother: 'You would be happy if I just kept well-dressed and had good manners,' and she said: 'What else is there?'

It's absurd to talk about paintings that you haven't finished.

White paint is my marble.

The Mediterranean is always just white, white, white.

Virginia is a good start for Italy.

My parents were from New England. It's very funny, but when I grew up, you always had to say, 'Yes, ma'am' and 'Yes, sir.'

I have my pace and way of living, and I'm not looking for something.

I would've liked to have been Poussin, if I'd had a choice, in another time.

Graffiti is usually a protest - ink on walls - or has a reason for being naughty or aggressive.

I hate roses. Don't you? It's all right if you can hide them in a cutting garden, but I think a rose garden is the height of ick.

When I work, I work very fast, but preparing to work can take any length of time.

I had my freedom and that was nice.

I never really separated painting and literature.

Paint is something that I use with my hands and do all those tactile things. I really don't like oil because you can't get back into it, or you make a mess. It's not my favourite thing - pencil is more my medium than wet paint.

Every line is the actual experience with its own unique story.