One of the mysteries is how the human mind can hear a piece of music, a symphony from beginning to end, before beginning; or see a sculpture finished all the way round when it doesn't exist. Now these faculties are the sort of faculties needed in sciences, math, and medicine and all kinds of things. But if one has them, one has to learn to use them... You cannot start with a block and say 'Now it's going to dictate me.' You dictate to it.
I have to dedicate myself. Do you understand? I don't feel conflict in myself, because if I do, my work doesn't go well. If there's conflict I have to sit down or go to sleep to solve it. The only way to solve the problem is to produce really affirmative work which can only come -- I can't make it come. I can't conjure it up. I can only go to sleep and hope it happens... You have to digest it and if you digest you can contribute.
I loved the family and everything to do with them. I loved the environment and the cooking. I used to cook and go into my studio. I had to have methods of working. If I was in the middle of a work and the oven burned or the children called for me, I used to make an arrangement with music, records, or poetry, so that when I went back to the studio, I picked up where I left off. I enjoyed it, you see; it was part of me.
Barbara Hepworth to Cindy Nemser, 1975, from this.image here