It is an intimately communicative affair… [Ben Shahn]
It is an intimately communicative affair between the painter and his painting, a conversation back and forth, the painting telling the painter even as it receives its shape and form. 
It’s the most precious thing…to know absolutely where you belong. There’s a whole emotional wrapping-around-of-you-here. You see the same rock, tree, road, clouds, sun – you develop a nice kind of intimacy with the world around you. To be intimate is to grow, to learn… [it] is absolutely fulfilling. Intimacy, that’s my magic word for why I live here.
