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Art & Creativity Quote by Peter Wright

"I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it?"

About this Quote

Art-making as a gamble is the quiet provocation in Peter Wright's line: if the outcome is already known, the canvas becomes paperwork. He frames painting less as execution and more as risk management, where uncertainty isnt a bug but the whole point. The phrasing is casually disarming - "I don't know" functions like a shrug, but its also a declaration of method. Hes refusing the myth of the painter as omniscient visionary. Instead, hes closer to a performer who trusts muscle memory, mood, and the moment.

"Flooding colour" is telling. Floods ignore neat borders; they stain, seep, and surprise. Wright is defending excess and accident against the tidy expectations that often follow celebrity artists, who are pressured to produce a recognizable brand on demand. By emphasizing "marks" - not masterpieces, not statements - he shifts attention to process and physicality. The subject "in front of me" matters, but not as a fixed blueprint; its a starting signal. Observation meets impulse, and what results is negotiated in real time.

The subtext is also a subtle critique of control: critics and audiences like to believe art is premeditated genius because that makes it easier to explain, price, and collect. Wright pushes back with the logic of improvisation: the value is in responsiveness. He invites us to see painting as an event, not an object - something that happens to the artist as much as it comes from him.

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TopicArt
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APA Style (7th ed.)
Wright, Peter. (2026, January 15). I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-know-what-its-going-to-look-like-wouldnt-71692/

Chicago Style
Wright, Peter. "I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it?" FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-know-what-its-going-to-look-like-wouldnt-71692/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it?" FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-know-what-its-going-to-look-like-wouldnt-71692/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Peter Wright (August 9, 1916 - April 27, 1995) was a Celebrity from United Kingdom.

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