The faces people make when they are photographed and the face they have when you draw them are very different.
Romanticism is not just about being in a fixed state of endless beauty, because you can't live like that or live on that, that's what I've learnt.
I think it is such an amazing moment when people realize what they are and what they can be, and they start putting themselves out into the world. I think you can see it in people when it's happening. They look different.
I think everybody can be beautiful. Anybody can have beauty. It's about how you look at the world, in a way, and how you treat yourself.
No one is famous when they wake up in the morning, so it's nice seeing people in moments when they're just being themselves.
I start listening to something, or I'm seeing somebody a lot or seeing their art. And then I just really want to make a picture of them.
I lived in London for a time in the '90s and I love it here. You know, I just go and see shows and have great dinners and walk around.
You really need faith in yourself to make art and to stand up for what you believe in.
I think little things are more powerful because they're more honest, so people feel them more strongly.
To paint well, I need to be enraptured by my subjects.
I don't rise to the occasion unless I'm really moved.
A painting of a person can be descriptive, but for me it's about all the things that make up a picture - the feelings, the brushstrokes - more than describing somebody. People latch on to the personalities when they talk about my work and forget the other parts.
There's something in music that fascinates me - how it communicates emotion so immediately. That's something I wanted in my paintings.
In 19th-century France, artists were part of government. Artists are very sensitive to their time. They're very thoughtful people - it makes sense to hear what they have to say.
I love the idea that someone I like would have a piece of mine in their house and have a relationship with it.
If art is any good, it has so much of a longer trajectory than one night. Contemporary art is separate from art openings. In the end, it depends on the strength of ideas in each piece.
