Hello bloggers,

When I see a painting of mine that I haven’t seen for years—in a museum or a private home or whatever—it always seems to me that the painting is changed.  When we come back to a painting after many years, it’s changed but better.  Maybe it’s been debated, talked about, loved, misunderstood, maybe disliked, possibly even hated.

When our paintings go out into the world, the ideas they put out there ultimately comes back to us, but it comes back as the prodigal son or daughter:  maybe a lot older but a lot wiser because it has experienced all the things that take place in the world.

And when we say “coming back,” I always think of it as coming home, and to me, I think home should be the place where even though you’re a falling-down idiotic drunk, you’ll be accepted, loved, and put in a place of honor at your table, even though you might not deserve it.  Home should not be a place where we judge each other; it should be a place where we love each other.  That really is the basis of what holds civilization together. So if you’re an artist, send your paintings and your message out there, and eventually it’ll come back to you all wrapped up in buttons and bows. 

Matt