I think it is an overwhelming love of beauty which causes anyone to become an artist, an extra sensitiveness to line and colour, as musicians are sensitive to sounds. In artists and sculptors, it is called an aesthetic sense.
I myself have always seen line and form first.
Sometimes I paint from sketches and sometimes, directly. I arrange a still life, but often I think over it first and do compositions in pencil. And when I do a figure composition, of course, I do quite a lot of drawings, putting the figures together to make a good design.
I suppose, really the most stimulating thing I have found in working is doing quick sketches from a nude figure. That I find quite thrilling, quarter of an hour poses; there’s something that forces you to concentrate, and I think you do your best work, it’s more alive and you express yourself, I think. You’re not conscious of anything but trying to get a shape down in simple lines.
I think the thing that makes me want to paint now is a harmony of colour. I see an exciting combination of colours and then I want to add to them and make a good design and balance the colours and try to do a watercolour that looks fresh and effortless.
