Quotes from Wayne Thiebaud

Art is not delivered like the morning paper; it has to be stolen from Mount Olympus.

Diebenkorn was a very good critic, a very tough critic, tough on himself, tough on others. He expected the finest.

If we don't have a sense of humor, we lack a sense of perspective

If you stare at an object, as you do when you paint, there is no point at which you stop learning things from it.

Every paint-stroke takes you farther and farther away from your initial concept. And you have to be thankful for that.

My sin as a painter is that I just want to paint anything I want to paint - and repaint.

If I don't have anything better to do that day, I'll copy paintings, generally by people who have some relationship to the work of the moment.

I'm a believer in the notion that artists who do good work believe in the ideas of extremes.

I haven't the slightest idea what art is, but to be a painter is something of which you have to prove.

Art means something very rare, an extraordinary achievement.

Painting is more important than art.

Art is one of the dirtiest words in our language; it's mucked up with all kinds of meanings. There's the art of plumbing; there's the art of almost anything that you can say.

The Gold Rush and the Pony Express made Sacramento a substantial place in terms of enterprise.

Morandi suggests we are all single in this world, hoping for independent repose. But our best opportunity for a community of excellence depends upon a collection of enlightened individuals.

Discipline is not a restriction but an aid to freedom.