Artwork

Pacific Coast Higher Way

I know where this is going I just don’t know the way The road turned inland Behind steeper hills What lies beyond them? Who can come close Or ever even try to say? Only those who travel The Pacific Coast Higher Way The twists and turns Down here below Far from the straight and narrow […]…

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War and Peace

Plein air painting of the Humboldt county coast near Trinidad, California

Conflict is inevitable   The Sea sends its navy    To war against the Land   The Fog lays an ambush    Against the Bluer Skies    The Mud launches a ground assault    Against Your Soggy Boots   Warring factions lie in wait    Around every bend    At the end of this trail    Named for […]


Proof of Concept

Plein air painting by Matt Beard of the California coast just north of Point Conception
Painted this one en route to a lighthouse at California’s greatest turning point. I was originally going to paint the beach park about 5 miles north of this point, just around that first bend in the distance of this painting. After walking about 30 feet north to seek a nearby view, not even getting out […]…

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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Rose Bush

Maybe it’s a self portrait. This was painted at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens where there must have been at least 20 other artists working on the grounds. Maybe more. Beautiful people, hearts of gold, paintings of delightful beauty in various states of refinement. I show up late, wander the entire garden, perpetually unsatisfied with the […]…

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Say Nothing

The land that lay directly behind me as I painted this distant view from one of California’s more central coasts belongs to none other than Neil Young, and having learned this I couldn't help but recall him singing the old Woody Guthrie tune This Land is Your Land: As I was walkin', I saw a […]…

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Pale Blue Eyes

It’s true, that fog just lingered on, and on. Those pale blue eyes… I saw a burst of blue sky while rounding a bend and thought for sure the fog was lifting. That was my mistake- thinking anything was sure about fog. I should know better. And I generally do, but the scene was truly […]


Something Not So Easy

If the previous painting of the day was titled Something Easy, well this would be the opposite of that. This place is hard. In many ways. And so was this painting. For a long few minutes, I didn’t think it was ever going to work to get this down the beach perspective. But what a […]


Something Easy

Not much to say here, just a nice day on the southern California coast.  Just a little something easy for those going through some hard times.


The Whole Wide World

This was a commissioned piece for a couple who was married on the bluff beneath those trees in the distance. It had me thinking of marriage and a song I’d been enjoying by Bill Callahan called Pigeons where he sings: when you are dating, you only see each other And the rest of us can […]…

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