Sometimes I am asked, “Where do you get your ideas?”

I have to answer: that particular mystery is the best part of this whole process.  Images will, of their own volition it seems, arise complete in my mind, and I know at that moment that I have my marching orders.  So: part of my work as an artist, at least as important as cultivating my skills, is cultivating a receptive frame of mind, a kind of mental fallowness, into which these images may present themselves…and protecting that mental atmosphere from intrusion.