A language not based on universal symbols or sensations is gibberish, a pitfall of modern art, no longer modern.

- Nelson Shanks

It's not just a boring exercise in pushing oil paint around a canvas. It's a way of opening a threshold to an exciting new world of vision.

- Nelson Shanks

I think of music a lot when I paint. The theme of it to a degree is music. So instead of literally putting in music or literally putting in a musical…

- Nelson Shanks

I'm drawing in my head pretty much.

- Nelson Shanks

I almost never do drawings, because I have found over the years that doing something in one medium and translating into another doesn't work. I like …

- Nelson Shanks

If you find yourself with a weakness, attack it... don't develop a technique that avoids your weaknesses.

- Nelson Shanks

There are times when I love to play all kinds of complicated games in painting. But this is one case when I need to be fairly straightforward. I'll j…

- Nelson Shanks

We got interested in aesthetics, and then at the end of all of it we fell off the precipice. It's almost like crawling back because so many technique…

- Nelson Shanks

Dramatic use of color, harmonious design, the interplay of light and shadow across a variety of textures, the portrayal of the figure and other subje…

- Nelson Shanks