"I was learning very much from him (Cezanne) but I was not articulate enough to explain it to anyone.  Besides it was a secret."

Ernest Hemingway, "A Moveable Feast"

"Even abstract shapes must have a likeness."  De Kooning

"When you start working, everybody is in your studio--the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas--all are there.  But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone.  Then, if you're lucky, even you leave."  John Cage to Philip Guston

I tell myself repeatedly that you can't do everything in a painting.  Instead, you should do one thing. Sometimes I take my own advice.