My days are filled with getting the best deal and being nice. This is necessary in our complex, intensely social world, but it’s wearying to be so careful all the time. After millennia of roaring against  weather and disease and trembling before the stars, it’s difficult to live so small.
Human beings need consequences to keep interested.  This is why people go cave diving and jump canyons and kiss people they don’t know very well.  Risk is necessary to happiness.  The nature of the hazard is not important; all that is necessary is to gamble everything on something you care deeply about.
That’s why I paint; I love the thrill of the irrevocable stroke.  Once I’ve put it down, I can’t call it back. There is no  “cooling off” period, no “extended warranty”  – no one to blame but myself.  The stakes are high. The mangled wood and canvas stuffed into my garbage can bear witness to the deadliness of the sport. Art is not for the timid.  Nothing is.