Matt Smith was born in Kansas
City, Missouri in 1960.
At an early age he moved to Arizona. He later moved to Europe
where he lived two years in France and one in Switzerland.
Matt has lived most of his life in Arizona, where he has a deep
attachment and respect for the Sonoran Desert.
Matt graduated from Arizona State
University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting.
He spent a vast amount of time studying the traditional styles
of such landscapes masters as Maynard Dixon, William Herbert
Dunton and Edgar Payne.
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Most
of the time, Matt can be found painting en plein air from southern
Arizona to the Canadian Rockies. He also paints the California
coast to the mountains of Colorado.
"I appreciate traditional landscape painting and I am
inspired by the pristine landscapes of the American West.
I enjoy working in areas where one can travel for miles without
seeing the influence of man.
When I paint, I feel I've hit the mark when I've captured a balance
between mood, look and feel.
You know you've succeeded when viewers sense the
desert heat or the chill of a mountain snowfall." |