Joni Mitchell Quotes

I was never the kind of painter or sculptor who kept a shop.

I remember when you used to have your profession on your passport and I always thought that being a painter was the best one to be, because my heroes were Goya and Francis Bacon.

Why do you think my name is Artist? I'm an artist.

All I care about these days is painting — photography has never been more than a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing.

I am not a juicy painter.

I've done an incredible amount of painters. It's an area, for me, where there's more mystery left. I've photographed so many musicians, I've been in studios so often, I know the whole process. The mystery's gone from it. I think it's important to keep mystery into our lives. There's a longing connected with it.

I wanted to be a painter, somewhere between Abstract Expressionism and Pop.

I consider myself an artist. God granted me some gifts so that I could express myself artistically.

I looked at Rembrandt and Superman, Matisse and Bugs Bunny, and began to make my own pictures.

To be an artist, you need to play inside your work.

I'm an artist. And usually when I tell people I'm an artist, they just look at me and say, 'Do you paint?' or 'What kind of medium do you work in?'

One of my first dreams when I was a child was becoming a painter.

And all of this, all these physical aspects of painting at that time excited me very much. You could do a picture in just black and white. I mean all the things, whether you're soliciting permission or not, do give you permission.

Because art as a pursuit, as a concept, as an ideal, constantly elevates one above the pragmatic, one is inclined to discuss art in heightened terminologies. For me, it is just what I do all day long.

In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter.

The only people left in America who seem not to be artists are illustrators.

I maintain that if you're a novelist and you go into an art museum, you'll come out a better novelist. And if you paint a picture for an hour you're a better actor at the end of it.

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.

The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions.

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

I think I am a writer, but professionally I feel drawn to and suited for directing.

I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.

I've been a printmaker and designed objects. I've done 500 posters.

If I hadn't been a designer, I'd have been a painter. I began as a painter and learned the craft of pottery in order to support myself.

When I was nine, my great grandfather, a landscape painter, taught me to mix colors. With his strong hand surrounding my small one, he guided the brush until a calla lily appeared as if by magic on a page of textured watercolor paper.