A reader asks Matt whether he paints self-portraits.

Matt responds:

Thanks for asking.

I do many self-portraits.  They don’t look anything like me in this particular material world.  They’re all about my spirit.

My favorite one, which I put right next to a phone I never use, mounted in my studio, is a long, narrow, stupid-looking face with my tongue sticking out, razzing whoever’s calling me.  It’s probably somebody trying to sell me something, and I’m telling them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

I have another that hangs in my studio on a big, old post.  I look like something the cat dragged in, looked at, and then dragged out again.

I have another on a rugged post, and I look smiley, almost like a happy, mentally retarded person with no cares and a big smile, like I’m on my way to see the Wizard of Oz.  That’s probably who I really am.

All three of them knock me every day when I walk in.  I don’t call them Lamb; I just look at them and absorb their spirit.

If you want to see what I really look like, Richard Speer is always putting my puss on the Blog.

A couple months ago, a fortune teller told me:  “You’re sitting here, but most of the time your spirit is somewhere else...  You ought to get them together and let them talk sometime.”

Maybe I’ll take that advice if I live long enough.

Matt