Matthew Smith

About Matthew Smith

Matt Smith Makes is an extension of my personal and professional creative practice that includes fine art painting in acrylic and watercolor as well as commercial illustration. My personal work often stems from experiences, stories, and feelings I want to convey to the viewer – this work is available as originals in the form of framed acrylic pieces as well as reproductions in the form of giclee prints. My creative philosophy is to essentially be a professional – that is, to show up and do good work. I believe that by showing up and making good work, I’ll eventually make some great work. I believe that telling my story and being honest and vulnerable in my work I can inspire others to make work of their own, or open up to new ways of thinking they didn’t see previously.

Biography

My name is Matthew Smith and I am a painter from Beckley, West Virginia. Growing up without much exposure to the arts, I lacked the vocabulary of an illustrator or painter, but I knew that I needed to make things with my hands. I pursued my degree in Fine Arts with a focus on graphic design from Marshall University and was incredibly proud to be the first in my family to attend and graduate from college. I discovered painting, ironically, much later, having only dabbled with watercolor through college. When I finally started to make pictures more seriously I was hugely inspired by the paintings of N.C. Wyeth and Jesper Ejsing and their ability to convey so much realism and life while also showing brush strokes and texture. As my painting skills increased, so too did requests for prints start to roll in and I began printing reproductions of works myself using an archival giclee printer. As I pursue clients and continue to slowly grow the business I have also begun teaching workshops and producing larger, more complex commissioned work for clients. In terms of the content I focus on, the mysteries and imagined creatures living deep in the West Virginia forests are a huge inspiration for me, as well as experiences as simple and pure as growing my own food with my family over a summer.