I have often, as an exercise ...

I have often, as an exercise and as a sustenance, painted before an object down to the smallest accidents of its visual appearance; but the day left me sad and with an unsatiated thirst. The next day I let the other source run, that of imagination, through the recollection of the forms and I was then reassured and appeased.
 Odilon Redon

Quotes from the same author

Nothing in Art is achieved by will alone. It is achieved by docilely submitting to the subconscious.
 Odilon Redon