From a hand written note on a scrap of paper I found at the studio:

“Avoid the self-conscious and overly refined – be free of artistic pretentions.”

“Nature is an honest standard we can turn to. Her shapes are a gift. I change them with care.”

“Formal training is overrated. Good things happen when you learn from your mistakes. A little ignorance is often helpful.”

12/25/09 – Found another folder at the Studio with some short writings from the 70′s-80′s.

“The Good Life is engaging with people we love to make things that really count.”

Sculpture (1983)

” I make sculpture that pleases me – but it is on the assumption that there are other people who will have the same feeling about the forms.  I generally work fast and spontaneously on several pieces. If the uncritical flow isn’t there I put the piece aside and come back to it later.”

Bio notes (late 90′s):

“I have been sculpting in a variety of materials for the past 40  years – long enough that good things can happen if you learn from your mistakes.  My goal over the years has been to free myself of artistic pretensions  in order to share the reverence I feel for nature’s forms and textures. I’m convinced that nature is the only honest standard we can turn to.

When I’m able to avoid the self-conscious & over-defined and treat natural materials with wonder the result seems good. It’s clear that the uncarved stone or river washed root often cannot be improved by the artist.  Sometimes you can make the inherent beauty of nature’s sculptures more accessible to others.

It’s joyous work!”

From notes accompanying the Los Gatos Green Show (compiled by Emie Yamate)

“I make art to expel melancholy and vanity. If you want a beautiful life or a beautiful sculpture, make the moments beautiful.”

“By contemplating nature, we are constantly renewed. As I consider nature’s shapes, I find a gift. ”

“I want an intimate and honest relationship with the natural world; I want to treat natural materials honestly. As an artist, I want to communicated and share the reverence I feel for nature’s forms and textures. I feel nature expressing itself through me. I try to keep my treatment of the natural materials free of artistic pretension.”

“The process is the thing. I would rather work than write or talk.”

Some Haikus:

“Workmen’s boot prints in the mud
A glistening concrete slab
And this discarded Oak”

“Barbed wire and meadow
Fire,  torrent,  mud slide
And now a quiet place again”

“Twice Noble Oak!
The rainbow memories
Recorded in it’s heartwood”

Do you remember any Paul sayings? Add a comment.