Matthew Ashford Quotes

When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I've got to draw. And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.

I love to create, and to me, the ultimate freedom of expression is a blank canvas or a block of clay to capture whatever emotions your imagination gives it.

Growing up, I enjoyed drawing, but it was always in the service of an idea. I drew all the time, and I enjoyed making.

I put on the canvas whatever comes into my mind.

I love art so much because of curiosity. At the start of a painting, I know 10 percent of what the painting will be, and then I have to improvise the whole thing.

I'm a doodler. It was my first job as a boy, and I still do it. At night I keep a block of paper and a pencil with a huge piece of string next to me. When I have an idea, I grab the string and just doodle.

Art gives me the freedom I don't have when I make music.

If you were to say to me that I couldn't paint, I would write. If I couldn't write, I would be a set designer. As long as I'm creating something, I'm happy.

I feel lucky that I've been able to make a living from painting any idea that comes into my head.

When you're an artist, all you're trying to do is self-express.

When I work alone, it can be like dabbling with a canvas. Maybe you paint over bits, and it starts to form its own life and lead you off in a direction. It becomes an intuitive, subconscious process.

Sometimes I can see the whole painting from the outset in my mind's eye. But more often than not, that idea doesn't last the duration of the painting. Sometimes it comes out easy, just as I had envisaged. But that is reasonably rare.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Usually, I am a compulsive person, and I need - sometimes urgently - to paint... Painting is close to poetry, is a kind of poetry expressed visually. It has to be spontaneous, rapid - at least in my case.

I needed an outlet in high school and came across painting. I've actually been painting longer than I've been acting. A movie is a collaborative effort, and with painting you just have yourself.

I paint what I like, when I like and where I like.

It's helpful for me to get ideas - the physical action of painting. Sometimes it frees up your writer brain. It's nice for me now that the writing has become a serious career that painting can become more like a hobby.

I was blown away by being able to color. Then I started to draw... bringing a blank white canvas to life was fascinating.

Being in the studio is like painting, you know, you can really take your time, and try different things, and kind of go deep into it.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

I am like a folk painter. Paint and move ahead.

As a creative person, you want to start with a blank canvas.

I just wanted to be an artist. I didn't care how or what; I just wanted to express my artistic integrity, and I wanted the world to have a vision of what I was seeing in my mind.

Painting is an infinitely minute part of my personality.

I love producing! It's so much fun to start with a blank canvas and create the picture you want to create and see it all come together.