Painting privileges

It got to the point where I was in the sixth grade of my little, redbrick schoolhouse in Brooklyn. I didn’t even have to sit down and do work like a normal kid. I was painting in the back of the room all the time, and my teacher was terrific. She made this big show all over the lobby of the school of my artwork. And I got out of things like spelling tests and all these things, because I was painting.

So, I always knew that artwork would be something I would always be doing.