There is that element of alchemy in painting, sometimes things just don’t work. If they did work all the time, that would make the process pretty boring. One reason I build my surfaces up is because I don’t really want to know what the line is going to do. I want this built-in fracture; when I drag the brush along the canvas I don’t want it to be a smooth, easy voyage—I want some problems along the way.

Donald Baechler