"Throughout the six or so decades of his career, he has been carried forward by recurrent gusts of enthusiasm. He likes to quote his erstwhile assistant Richard Schmidt, who used to say, 'What you need, David, is a project!' I know the feeling; I am a little aimless myself without a book to write and a subject to delve deeper into. I seem to need to be learning or doing something fresh; I suspect Hockney is the same."
from Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy
by Martin Gayford
