Quotes :From the Art Journals

A lot of what creative types do is attention seeking. And we've learned that from God.

A portrait always starts with perfection. I deface and deform it to make it look more like me.

A sleepless night can be dreadful, but for the wrong artist never disappointing.

Actually. Karma is a lesson.

After the fire I could only mourn the loss of my work by making more art.

Always do good. A lot of good comes from all the good that you do.

An art teacher once told me "Show how human you are in the work. Show me your shaky hand, show me your mistakes." So I keep the typos, scribbles and misspellings.

Appreciate the reference.

Art is a call to turn within, for both artist and viewer.

Art is also inevitable.

Art is everything before everything.

Art is evolution, revolution and contribution.

Art is finding hope within.

Art is life. I want to live.

Art is not about "look at me." Art is about "I was here."

Art is the only promise I've been able to keep.

Art is what you are.

Art nurtures the world.

Art Takes Everything.

Artists are not out of their minds. They get lost in them and bring back souvenirs.

Artists can't help being surrounded by art. We bring our own world no matter where we go.

Artists do are emotional warriors, worriers and button pushers.

Artists do not need to have all the answers. Part of their gift is to be able to live and work with the ambivalence.

A therapist once told me that emotionally I was still about thirteen years old. Which was very exciting for me as an artist, since it meant I still had plenty of teenage angst to create from.

Artmaking is not always about the visual depiction, the theme or the search you’re trying to resolve. The biggest reward is reaching a level of total imperturbability in the process. Artmaking can be that ultimate high.

As far as I'm concerned god got creative block on the seventh day, and upon returning got pissed at Adam and Eve for exploring their God-given creativity.

Ask your doctor if 15 minutes of fame is right for you.

At the beginning of my art career people would chuckle at the way I signed my paintings "FdlM". They didn't foresee a future of Acronyms & Hashtags

Be kind to your haters. They mourn when you're killing' it.

But of course my neurosis will go well with your couch and curtains.

Contrary to popular belief, curiosity skilled the cat.

Curate your friend collection as a museum curates art: No fakes.

Don’t dwell on all the critical questions that may emerge when creating. Produce, hold, edit. The work itself will tell you what works.

Don’t start too late. Don't give up so soon.

Don't attempt to quiet the mind. Sit down to observe it instead.

Don't be afraid to dream aloud. You may wake others up to dream along.

Don't create what is wrong then ask, "What’s wrong?"

Don't just imagine the possibilities. Go after them!

Don't just stand at the gate of your dreams.

Don't let the BUTS but you down.

Doodling: The other mindful meditation.

Each work should be an affair to remember.

Ego is not Self

Eventually as an artist you begin this quest to find out what art means to you. Not intellectually or from what you’ve read in books. Not from what other artists, scholars and critics have written, but from your own process and work.

Experience now NOW!

Follow your dreams. All of them. Some may turn out wrong, but at least they're brave.

For some of us, life must chip at your ego before it can give us more opportunity. But for that I'm grateful. That's all I can say. I cannot fight the past.

God is an abstract, ever present creative force in everything. God is creativity, and when you create, you take on that role.

God it beingness. God just is. No creed, race or gender. Just love and beingness.

God's will is evolution.

Gray day. Make brightly colored art.

Have a creative intention each day. An act of creativity each day can keep the inner critic away.

Having no filter, being inappropriate, angry and loud definitely suits me better on canvas.

Holidays are the reason life is short.

Honor your studio as a place of worship, where you always take creative leaps of faith.

I am an artist despite my inner chaos, not because of it.

I believe art has the power to communicate, unite, change lives, express feelings and ideas. In my case, it has emotionally connected me with people from all walks of life. Art is a path to compassion, understanding and finding common ground.

I could only mourn the loss of my art by making more art.

I describe my work as the chaos of Nicaraguan civil war to the sound of heavy metal music.

I don't get high to paint, I paint to get high.

I don't have issues. I make art of my issues.

I first paint for myself. I paint what I love, obsesses or interests me. The gift for me is that others love it and that I can make accessible to people. But in the end, it is my process and my search. I can't compromise that.

I get tired of the ghosts in my head. I make art to not have to entertain them.

I go where my art takes me. I refuse to board the trend to nowhere.

I make art because art is a constant search for answers. I've always asked too many questions.

I see God as an abstract, ever present creative force in everything. God is creativity, and when you create, you take on that role.

I started cutting back on social media presence when I began to feel like a gadget to the gadget,

I thank life for giving me many chances to be young and stupid.

I think I've come a long way in my love/hate relationship with the world.

I was always too aware for a child.

If I was totally comfortable with my work I don't think I would make it.

If I wasn't an artist I would have loved to have been one.

If you don't allow yourself to feel, you won’t heal.

If you feel stuck you're looking back. It's time to make art without using the past.

If you haven't done it at least know that one day you won’t be able to.

If you want to succeed faster; slow down, ask for directions and be sure to read the signs.

If you're going to attempt to make it, make it a double.

If you're in the studio working while thinking about what's hot out there, then you're not in the studio. You're far outside from yourself.

If you're too afraid of ruining it, then you're probably too afraid to take it to the next level.

If you're wasting time you're most likely also missing on opportunities.

I'm as troubled as every other artist out there. But I always welcome depression wearing my best.

I'm as troubled as every other artist out there. But I always welcome depression wearing my best.

I'm just tackling the inner subject at hand, using the medium that best suits me in the moment. The materials and tools are not important.

I'm not a troubled artist, I'm a troubled painter.

I'm not crazy, I'm actually quite inside of my mind.

I'm not depicting symbolism in my work. I'm searching for it.

I'm not here to make a mark. I'm here to make a painting.

I'm sure one day I will get away from the bright colors and collage.

In an era when war, conflict and violence have become so common. The greatest act of rebelliousness left for us, is to become Peacemakers.

In pain, but in paint.

in service of the divine. Whatever that may be

In the end, paintings have no concern for the viewer or what the viewer thinks of them. You're in their world.

In the end, who you are is what you give this world and the people around you.

In this art game you must take chances. Your loss is really in not taking them.

Information does not guarantee wisdom.

It wasn’t a whim; I am an artist.

It wasn't a dream. I am an artist.

It’s in the moments when you feel most frustrated or discouraged when you should be most kind to yourself. That’s how you rise above.

It's costed me a lot of money to stay this nuts.

It's hard to find silence when the noise is in your mind.

It's not where it's at, It's where you take it.

I've always had a strange way of forgiving and forgetting. I forgive and then forget they existed.  

I've come to realize that the way I was collaging was a way of keeping record of the loss to come.

Just evolve, grow, work hard and enjoy the process. Leave the next level talk for the elevator.

Just get art there.

Just when I think I'm sharing too much in my art, the work begs me to be more candid.

Kindness starts with you, towards yourself. It can’t go to others first or it won’t be an authentic gift.

Let Go. We live in a world of wants. We want approval, control and security.

Life issues are a little more complex than just sharing a link.

Life's a gift, not a lease.

Like a work of art, some people will love me, some people will hate me, some will reject me and some will just be indifferent. But unlike a work of art, I was given the chance to love myself.

Limit your limiting beliefs. They limit you.

Love is not a gamma.

Make art it for the pure enjoyment of the art spirit and your creative beingness; not to chase originality and impress egos.

Making art is constantly confronting resistance.

Making art is serious blissness.

Mid-career is when you do your best work. Especially if you stopped giving a shit about what the emerging artist was after or wanted.

My art can also be about intuition and the influence of the unknown

My art is scrappy.

My art responds and corresponds to my times.

My imagination is as monstrous as my ego. And they’re always at war with each other. My Artmaking’s the path to peace.

My inner child loves playing with fear.

My star may not shine the brightest. But it's light is from within.

My story is long. I've survived it.

My wife doesn't run the show, she curates it.

My work can be about identity. But it's inaccurate to say I'm finding it.

I'm reclaiming it from underneath debris of labels, emotional and psychological rubble. Sometimes I paint the debris.

My work is not seeking to give answers, it asks questions. I’m not depicting a glass half empty or half full. I’m depicting a broken glass.

Negativity will always bow to creativity, not the other way around.

Never accept other people projecting their own broken stories as your truth.

No matter how great the adversity or opponent you must face, Don’t ever hide your creative lightning.

No need to revisit past works. Move forward.

Not all of us are here to fight the wrongs of the world. Some of us are here to expose the wrongs through creativity and bring about understanding, alternative thinking and expand consciousness.

Nudity is the highest tribute to I am that I am.

On an ironic twist, going from black sheep of my family to persona non grata has affirmed my talent, drive, uniqueness and eccentricity.

One of our deepest fears is to face an audience. It's foolish, since we're already giving power to people we don't know.

Our inner pain is most unhealthy when recalled from the past. Now

Pain is metaphor

Painting has been my vehicle to face my pain to understand the root of my inner chaos. I see my colors and discover my true self.

Painting is my ritual and I always find God in it.

Painting offered a way for me to quit trying to fill the void. It opened a door to dive in it, explore it and release what's inside instead.

People digging it is the gift. But I make art to awaken my true self.

People respond to the work or don't. That's more important than love or hate towards it.

Perhaps evil thrives because it feeds on the good. There's plenty good still.

Portraits are the best of friends. They always listen quietly, and never ever interrupt to say, "Wait till you hear what happened to me!"

Quit trying to fill the void. Dive in it, explore it and release what's in it.

Rely on talent, not gimmick.

Sales and recognition are great. But every day when I enter my studio, I pretend that I paint on an abandoned island and that the world will never see my work.

See dreams as a break from reality and not omens coming to affect it.

Self-taught? I prefer unacademically trained artist.

Silence is golden, but life must have a good soundtrack

Since I can remember, I would fall into deep depression. After becoming a painter, I fall into deep abstraction.

Some go through life pretending to hide their wounds while emotionally bleeding to death and getting shit on everyone.  

Some paintings deserve the secrets and afterthoughts. Not just a wall to look forward to.

Some people don't know that they don’t know

Some self-doubts are rooted in the past. Weed them out.

Sometimes I hate the fact that I paint. But not today.

Sometimes I look at my work and dare to think I've created a world of my own. I go to bed happy with that.

Sometimes the wave you thought would sink your boat is the one that raises you and pushes you much further to advance your journey.

Sometimes the way finds you.

Start, and put it in the art.

Stay balanced. If you're thinking too much you’re not feeling too much. And vice versa

Thank you madness! I really couldn't do it without you.

The artist creating conceptual art is as important as the one making people smile with bird paintings.

The canvas is darkness and we bring our light to it.

The future is an illusion turned to reality by the actions taken in the present.

The gift has been that life allowed me  to be able to share the pigments of my imagination.  I've never taken that for granted.

The gift isn't your talent. The gift is that you were given art as a way to celebrate or cope with life.

The joy of painting is in beating the fear.

The most important thing in my work is the scribble.

The most political thing I ever painted was a flower.

The muses never gave a shit about any art critic.

The pain could be worthwhile, if from your darkest hour you emerge having found beauty.

The people that change your life are not often the people who tell you that you can do it; but the people who through their lives and examples made you consider the possibility that you could do that too.

The point is to exalt the subject by extracting them from their mundane context.

The problem with social media is that you get to know your heroes.

The process isn't long. It's long-term

The purpose of art is to give me purpose. (And I speak for myself)

The thoughts come racing in so violently. I must paint to survive.

The truth is that I've always had horrible, illegible handwriting. But it works well in my abstract paintings. Perhaps I always was an abstract expressionist.

The truth is that nothing has meaning, but everything can take meaning.

The very first thing you should build before building anything is trust.

There are two kinds of people you'll run into as creative person. Those who nurture talent and those who torture talent.

There's always plenty, if you believe plenty.

There's evil in the world. Evil is all the same. But there's a lot more good than evil and that we must express.

There's no need to revisit past works. Move forward.

There's no need to search. We already are who we want to find. We must just rid ourselves of the shit that makes us who we aren't.

There's nothing you can do about a lot of things, but there's always something you can do about yourself.

To be legendary you must stick with your legend.

Today don’t give up. Don't give up today.

Today is the perfect day to take action.

Truth is often our savior

We go through life thinking we’re a single lonesome wave, forgetting we’re part of a vast ocean.

We live in an era of deformed spirits.

We will all experience pain and sudden turns in life. It’s something we can’t control.  Becoming a better person or a bitter person is a choice.  

We're all dead to yesterday.

We're all god's selfies.

What do we put into our paintings, but anxieties and inadequacy

What do you have to lose but bottled up emotions?

What I do in my art is self-inquiry and self-talk. Sometimes it's an enlightening discussion, other times a screaming match.

What I love most about painting is the journey. Looking closely at a painting, one can see and follow the routes taken by the painter. A work of art is a soul in motion; growing, crying, laughing, dying, loving and being reborn; all at the same time.

When   someone’s mourning, just try being preset and love them. Don’t have the answers, don’t know what to do or say, don’t find the words. Just be present and love and listen.

When in doubt, follow your art.

When in lack, focus on Self and not the lack or need. Prosperity follows those who feel worthy of all.

When the artist is ready, the subject appears.

When they tell you “You’re dreaming” you’re on the right track.

When we walk, we do so in the now. We don’t plan each step. Your next step is this moment.

When you attempt to create something, anything; You're tapping into all of the knowledge of the universe.

When you don’t see the shore, that's when the adventure begins.

When you lose everything you discover the self is all you have.

Where there's a skill there's a way. Learn a few.

Who are you? You are god's will.

Why do we make art? That is the quest.

Yes, everything may have been said and done, but you can still speak of/for your times.

You can look at the canvas as half blank or half painted.

You don't become an artist. You're either brave enough to remain one, or one day you suddenly remember.

You feel different because you don’t belong to uniformity. You are more complex, more three dimensional and colorful. Acknowledge that, affirm it, and share it with the world. Your tribe will find you.

You have the body and the spirit both sacred, one temple of the other. The rest is just ego.

You make art, you make progress.

You must die to something each day.

You'll hear of many now famous artists who died destitute, but they never tell you they also died with their creative boots on despite their misery.

Your anger is present.

Your creativity is meant to be shared. But that is a whole other courageous task in the artist’s life.

Your dreams and aspirations may seem like fantasy to some. But the payoff I'd very real. Don’t give up.

You're both a minute dot and an infinite line making your mark through life, time and space. Draw something meaningful.