A reader asks Matt whether he paints better on a full stomach or an empty stomach.

Matt responds:

My stomach has a mind of its own.  Sometimes it’s big, which is most of the time, and on rare occasions it’s small—increasingly rare as I get older.

When I have troubles with my back, I have more difficulty doing my rigorous exercise than I do under normal circumstances.

I must admit, as I got older over the years, I started paying more attention to my stomach and what I put into it.  I like to work very early in the morning, so my routine is that I don’t have a traditional breakfast.  I have what I call a milkshake, which is a concoction that I put into a blender, with no-fat, lactose-free milk with a powdery, milk-based vitamin and mineral compound and a big glass of V8.

I then proceed to the studio, and when I’m working, it’s chaos!  Fans are buzzing, air conditioning or furnaces are roaring, the radio is blasting hard rock music!  I’m in another dimension, roaming from place to place like a zombie, wondering, “What the hell am I doing here?”, for hours at a time.

Recently, as I’ve come closer to 80 than 70, my body tells me:  Lamb, get the hell out of this studio and go to bed!  I always used to ignore that, but now I must pay attention because it just won’t go any further.

I then have lunch sometime between 1 and 3, which is my only meal of the day, and then I have virtually the same thing between 7 and 9, the same thing that I had at the beginning of the day.

Strange as it seems, my body doesn’t seem to get any smaller, although I will say that if somebody gives me fudge, any kind of chocolate candy, or Good’N’Plenty, those are all my downfalls...  I’ll sneak into the closet and jam my mouth full of them, pretending I’m not really eating them.

I then go to bed and go to sleep, wondering why I didn’t lose any weight that day.

I don’t prescribe this diet to anyone else.  In order to follow it, you must be crazy, a recovered alcoholic, or a complete idiot.

I find it very healthy, and I love it.  Whether it helps my art, I have absolutely no idea. 

Matt