An excerpt from Working from Life on invention, which he said was his “greatest motivator”:

As I begin a painting, I am always looking, sorting and selecting a piece of that space on which my undivided attention will dwell for a period of time. I am continually discovering ways to interpret the three-dimensional forms in front of me, whether in the painting’s composition or in the placement of a brush stroke.

Working from life with the lens of the human eye involves the constant fixing on all the parts and bringing them together. Living with the painted surface reflects this amalgam of experience, through time, as invented marks represent the solid image on a two-dimensional surface. If I knew how to do that easily, it wouldn’t absorb my interest.... Solving through invention is, for me, the whole act of creating a painting.