A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I’ve been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me. I don’t paint things. I only paint the difference between things.

He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.

Work cures everything.

by Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954 )

I found these words from Henri Matisse on Paulo Coelho’s site (www.paolocoelho.blogspot.com) and I just had to repost them here, especially because work has been such a humongous drain on my spirit of late. It must be a wonderful feeling to love the job you do. I also love Henri Matisse’s idea of creating what you see, not what is.

Change is a-coming.