Doing what I love

Some years back 14 to be precise I attended 20 to 25 art shows a year selling my work or attempting to I should say. I am my fathers son as he did the same in his lifetime with great success.. After his passing I stepped away from art for 13 years and woke up about a year and a half ago. Painting is my passion once again.The outdoor art show is a funny, fickle thing, The weather can change your fortunes as well as the economy within that year. I miss doing them. I've met so many talented artists, some of which were close friends with my father and still doing the shows to this day.. There's just something about it ....You load up your van with your artwork, supplies, display racks, and tent just before daybreak. You hit the road with hardly a soul in sight. Your destination is to any town USA? Portland Maine, Mystic Connecticut, Rutland Vermont, Scituate Rhode Island .... the list goes on. You arrive early get out and stretch your legs.. The sun's just rising now as you register at the exhibitor booth and begin your day.. All types of trucks , vans , and trailers start to arrive from every state in New England, the sounds of laughter and some frustration as exhibitors hustle to get their displays in place .. tent legs clanging, hammers banging spikes into the ground.. You've finished now, your work is hung up , you've got your coffee, and congregate with the other artisans to talk about other shows, artists, and the occasional off color joke. Now it's show time. I've done it in all weather, Torrential Rains, 100 degree heat, heavy winds, mixed rain and snow .... hell I even set up in Ogunquit Maine one year with a hurricane sitting just off the coast! But no matter the situation, town, or weather ? You're out there .... You're an artist and the only person your working for is yourself! No time clock to punch, no managers to answer to ... In this time YOU'RE in charge and win lose or draw I love this feeling and wouldn't want it any other way ... I am an artist like my father before me .. It's in my blood ...

Why did I become an artist?

Thomas Everett Matlock: My Father , Coach , and Artist

Some one posted this a week or so ago? I've thought it over and I guess you could say it's in my blood? My father was a Senior Master Sergent in the United States Air force and served 20+ years, retiring in 1970. While we were stationed in Ramstien Air Force Base in Germany he took lessons in any free time he had from a local "Gypsy' named Segoin. No really he lived in a horse drawn cart in the woods and some country side areas. My father learned to paint landscapes from this man and in time sold his art through out the 70's and did quite well with a family of 6. Granted my mother worked also but his sales were good. I grew up watching him paint as did my 2 older brothers who both have artistic ability. I drew as far back as I can remember. My brother Jim and I would get up on Saturday mornings at 6:00 to watch a show called Capt. Bob on public television. He had a gimmick of looking like an old sea captain with a white beard and a strong Rhode Island accent. He drew wild life, birds, bugs, you name it but with crayons and you could follow step by step with him at home.So there it begins? In grade school I seemed to have a better grasp of art than most other students and this carried on through High school, although I have to say I attended high school with some very talented artists!

College showed me just how many talented people there are out there. Pencil and Pen and Ink were my strengths, learning to paint came later. I found Acrylic paints to be my choice over Oils which was my dads medium. In the mid to early 90's I found my self layed off from a decent paying job that I really despised, (Federal Police Officer) but that's another story. So I decided to start painting different things .... weird things? surreal, fantasy, the kind of things that were hard to sell of course. I did many out door art shows during the 90's and I sold some .. My artwork slowly progressed towards Marine life, I then mixed in wild life and eventually New England themed Barns and landscapes and seascapes. My Father influenced me the most and helped me with the business side of art. As much as I love to make Money off my paintings and who doesn't these days I found recently that aside from the income I truly love to paint, I get involved emotionally with every painting I do, placing myself in the painting as if I were walking in it. My father passed 13 years ago but not before teaching me life's lessons, painting and art business. He also left me his painting easel. It's about 50 years old and coated in 2 generations of paints from he and I combined. I became an artist because I was meant to become an artist, Because I love to paint, draw, what have you.. I became an artist because I love it.

You can view all my artwork current and old at http://http://www.johnmatlockartwork.com/ please visit, look around and leave me a comment. Please sign my guest book so I may add you to my mailing list and monthly newsletter as well.

I thank you all for reading this far ~ John Matlock

I dont know if it's just me or because I have what most would say a, "Creative/artistic Mind" but for the last year or so I've taken a more scenic ride into work in the morning. Living in Western Massachusetts I travel on Route 5 North which takes me through North Hampton, Whately, and South Deerfield. The scenery is prodominantly farmlands and local produce growers.. It's become the best part of my day as I dont think about work but take in every detail I can. Every day I seem to see somthing new I hadnt seen before. Several Barns are scattered about this 10 - 15 mile streatch. Over the year I've seen the bare leafless trees spring to life, the farms bustling with activity with the crops of the upcomming season... empty feilds of black tilled soil slowly show specks of green budding through the surface. Some barns are in disrepair as others patch up holes and loose boards from the previous winters storms. Early spring has arrived and grey rainy days seem gloomy? who wants to be out in that right? I 've learned to really appreciate the beauty of a rainy day in early spring or late fall. Dark rain laiden clouds with the bare trees against the skyline. Trees that take on tones of blue grays and rusted burgandy in their bark. As Summer approaches farm stands pop up along the road sides selling fresh blueberries, strawberries, corn, water mellons and cellary. This past summer I photographed an old defunct gas station of an era gone by, the roof caved in from its own weight and time, rusted shell's of gas pumps remained to date it back to the early 1970's I'd guess. It became the motivation to one of my paintings and I'd smile each day I passed it. The farms were in full gear by July as I passed a large tractor with a water cannon watering the crops. as it arched across the sky 50 60 feet in the air it created a rainbow effect. Lucky timing in my day? late summer approached with some crops now harvested. Corn fields so green it looked like pictures of Ireland. and along the road side 6 foot tall sunflowers sprouted up almost over night? Green fields bright yellow sunflowers against the Red barns in the distance, Grazing cows and horses, wild turkeys darting in and out of the tree lines.... Amazing imagery! Early October arrived before I knew it and all the fruit stands from the summer had been replaced with pumpkins, squash, and Indian corn stands. The sunflowers wilted and withered as quickly as they came and vast fields of pumkins were hidden behind them. Orange and white pumkins, yellow squash, Hundreds of jet black Crows littered the ramains of the harvested corn fields set against firey orange and brilliant golden leaves on the trees. The autumn wind robbing them of their gold as they rained down from the branches. Meanwhile vast flocks of Geese flew over head in their recognizable "V" formations headin south. Their unmistakable honking breaking the morning silence. And now here we are approaching late November... The remaining pumkins have been tilled over as compost to help fertilized the soil for next Spring. The farms are boarded up, barren as the stands on the roadside are too, winter is on our doorstep. And now Spring is upon us again.

Remember that gas station I mentioned earlier? Well it was bulldozed two weeks ago. It made me sad to see it go, so many people in the area were familiar with it and it was popoular with area photograhers. Now it's gone and so many people will never see it. Luckily I snapped a few shots one of them is above.

My point to all of this is there is so much going on around us if we just choose to open our eyes and look? People on the highway nearly killing each other driving in excess of 80mph talking on the phone seeing only the car they're tailgaiting? What a waste of life! This is just a tiny little part of Western Massachusetts, imagine what else there is to see in the rest of the world?I would say to everyone who reads this to take the slow way into work some time. If there's back roads then take them, slow down to 40 mph, put down the cell phone for 15 minutes, and occaasionaly look to your left abd right... you might just see somthing amazing that makes your day? Like the American bald eagle I saw today pearched atop an old birch tree... Simply breath taking !!!!Slow down, appreciate life, for it is far too short.