J. August Richards Quotes

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 decided that what I really wanted to do was go off and paint.

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.

Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves.

Some stuff I don't even put out. I'll just be home, happy, creating something for myself, and then ball it up and throw it in the trash. It's less about trying to prove something or get on somebody's list or make a fan happy or make a hater mad or convert a non-believer. That's not the case for me anymore.

In a perfect world, I would be a painter. I love working with my hands. I don't get to do it as much as I like, but I am finding a way to make more time as life goes on because it's a really great outlet for me to express myself.

I'm compelled to paint nearly every day. I just felt like making a painting, went out and bought paints and a canvas. Now it fulfills me creatively when I'm not doing music: it's something you can do by yourself and it's totally yours. It's a great adjunct to my life.

Painting is such an individual profession. I'm not performing. There's no audience.

It's quite liberating to get to a certain age, 'cos you're not chasing number one hits or trying to be an international superstar. I've done all that. I'm not out to prove much more to anyone but myself really, to be an artist and see if there is a new undiscovered music out there for me to make.

I like to paint and spend a lot of time doing art. For me, it's about hearing yourself and putting it out there as art. It's like a therapy thing.

I don't have this obsessive need to do street art all the time because it's already opened doors for me.

I do eventually want to get back into performing, but right now it's more fun for me to dance for myself.

I am here on Earth to express myself, and the many media of art are my magic carpets that allow me the freedom to do so.

I think artists need the freedom to fail and I gave myself that freedom.

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

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.

I will preach with my brush.

It is important to make your own stuff. Even if you are not an actor, it is important to not stop involving yourself as a creative person.

When I paint, I definitely live in the present, like someone in a shower whistling or singing.

I'm not an Expressionist. I love to look at de Kooning, but I've got this kind of secret life, and that is something that pleases me. I have to try and make something out of it.

I write music just for me. I'm certainly not good enough to do it on any kind of a level but I enjoy that time because it's quiet.

I love acting, but music is so much more rewarding because it's more personal.

You want to feel that you can do something creative that you love without being picked apart and mutilated for other people's pleasure.

I made some good pictures, and I made some bad ones. I wasn't trying to build an image, though; I was trying to build a life for myself.

Don't be an art critic. Paint. There lies salvation.