Lucian Freud Quotes

I've discovered I can't make a film about people I dislike.

The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.

[Personal life] doesn't affect my creative process. It just gives me more subjects to talk about. Basically whatever you put in your music is how you want people to view you.

Artists are all giving so much of ourselves to the work and the people and the press and the media and Twitter and all that now. For me, being able to create from a genuine place is really difficult lately because there's so much going on all the time, but when all that stuff gets quiet, you can explore your ideas without any ego or mental chatter.

Everything I make starts very personally.

I'm very interested to see how this new painting will go - I know I want it big and stark, and as I said, I follow the muse, and that's when it always works perfectly for me.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.

You can never tell when an artist really will take up someone's work and work with it happily.

If you are a writer or any kind of artist, if you change something as fundamental as where you live - the way you live - then I think you change the very instrument that is trying to make the art.

I've always said I'm more influenced in what I do by artists, and how they work, how they think, and the freedom they're given to work and think, than I really am by other writers.

For hundreds of years people have talked about artists having inspiration, but often, some persons would say, write us a symphony or write us a song, on commission. The artists would come up with a masterpiece without waiting to have their muse inspire them.

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.

Being creative is my idea of heaven. I'm just incredibly fortunate that I can do it in artwork. Watercolor is what I started out with. What I love about watercolor is that a lot of happy accidents occur.

I can obviously relate to a character who is an artist, because the creative process is a big part of my life.

As an artist myself, I know what it's like to put your heart and soul into something. You can feel the presence of another person.

Most of my songs aren't about me. They're about stuff I've seen.

When you create art, the world has to wait.

Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing - then a work of art may happen.

Whether I'm writing solo stuff, electronic stuff, or material for Motley, I just write to write. I come up with it and put things in different piles.

There can be no 'graduated exercises in drawing' leading up to an artistic creation. That goal can be attained only through the development of mechanical technique and through the freedom of the spirit.

I put on the canvas whatever comes into my mind.

It feels like when novelists say they find their characters are doing things they never thought they'd do, the material comes alive, and that's how I feel making music.

The thing about the creative process is it's so chaotic.