Kerry James Marshall Quotes

That talk of inspiration is sheer nonsense; there is no such thing. It is a mere matter of craftsmanship.

Anything is an art if you do it at the level of an art.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

You don't know how much artists go through to make it look so easy. It's all in the practice.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Art doesn't spring from the muses alone, but from hard work.

What distinguishes a great artist from a weak one is first their sensibility and tenderness; second, their imagination, and third, their industry.

I start a picture and I finish it.

When you are an artist, you want your audience to think it's effortless and easy.

Artistry is important. Skill, hard work, rewriting, editing, and careful, careful craft: All of these are necessary. These are what separate the beginners from experienced artists.

Craft is part of the creative process.

Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It's exactly like doing ballet. It's hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it's just the pleasure of dancing.

When I'm hard at work, when I'm deep in it, there is no other feeling. For me, my work is at all times building a nation out of thin air. It is manning the troops. It is painting a canvas. It is hitting every high note. It is running a marathon. It is being Beyonce. And it is all of those things at the same time.

I love the way painting is so full of illusionistic possibilities.

I know how to paint... In a way there is a boredom there because a lot of the magic is gone.

Art is craft, not inspiration.

Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.

Art, whatever form it takes, requires hard work, craftsmanship and creativity. As a writer, I know my grammar, cadence, the music of prose, and the art of the narrative.

Sculpture is like farming. If you just keep at it, you can get quite a lot done.

Great art would have 'head': it would have interesting intellectual ideas and concepts. It would have 'heart' in that it would have passion and heart and soul. And it would have 'hand' in that it would be greatly crafted.

When I'm painting the picture, I'm really painting a picture. I may have a flat-footed technique, or something like that, but still, to me, the thrill, or the meat of the thing, is the actual painting. I don't get any thrill out of laying it out.

I don't think you can lightly paint a picture. It's an activity I take very seriously.

I love creating images, of course, because I'm an artist.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

My painting does not come from the easel.