Stairway to Here

It’s the word that was spoken Before I was sent To a world collapsing Under it’s own colorless night We look with our eyes And see failure An abandoned outhouse A crime spree Suspicion and Self destruction Egos ablaze And rampant consumption Of her beautiful form Of her body Of earth And water But these […]


Ukha

Unfasten the beading Undo the hook from the loop Soon we’ll be eating Russian Fish Soup Tonight in the cabin After the sun jumps its hoop We know what we’re havin’ It’s Russian Fish Soup We’re not in a hurry But the ladle’s first scoop Sets our spoons in a flurry Of Russian Fish Soup […]


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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