In high school, Pat Matthews had a compulsion to create and his talent was evident by the art competitions he entered and won. But, alas, he knew the career of a young artist was uncertain. This rational thinking led him to a degree in architecture.
As a design architect living in Little Rock, he excelled. By day, he designed; by night, he painted and continued to grow as an artist, taking lessons from renown local painters like Barry Thomason. After 6 or 7 years, Pat’s style and confidence grew so much that, as he told listeners in his UIYB interview, he jumped into life as a full-time artist.
Create Your Own Matrix
He said, “I called this life coach and I said, “How do I just paint? Because that’s what I wanted to do.” She said, “It’s real simple. You just quit architecture and paint.” I said, “Well, I’ve got six jobs.” I said, “I can’t just quit architecture and paint.” She said, “Have you ever seen the movie The Matrix?” I said, “Yes. It’s a cool movie.
She goes on, “You have created your own matrix and you can change it just as fast, okay?” I was like, “Really?” I put her on hold. I said, “Would you hold for a second?” I called the Cromwell Firm, I was working for them. I said, “Do you mind –” I was doing a job for them and I said, “Do you mind if I quit your job? I just want to paint.” They said, “Oh, no. We’ve got another kid in here, another guy. We’re going to put him on it.”
Then I called this church I was working on and they were like, “Oh, no big deal. The contractors got it.” I quit all six jobs in one night and nobody cared. Nobody cared at all. I had $4,000 in the bank and I just started painting. The very next day I walked in and I didn’t turn my computer on. Just started painting. I scheduled a show up at Local Color Gallery here in Little Rock. That first show, I sold all 48 paintings in one night.”
The Rest is Art History
After such a successful show, Pat was motivated. He went on to say, “Okay, this is it.” I mean, I got my biggest paycheck that I had ever gotten in my life. Then I had another show. It was a sold out, 50-painting show, that was about four months later. I said, “This is it.” I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Got in a gallery there and lived there for nine years. Ended up getting into Aspen, Colorado. Now I’m in Beaver Creek. Then finally, I just said, “Well, I’m pretty set up here. I’m going to come back to Little Rock, Arkansas where I love it.” Because I have a place on the Little Red River. I love the people here. I love Arkansas. I really do. I mean, I grew up here fishing, hunting.”
Artist = Entrepreneur
This past weekend, Pat invited Grady and I up for the 34th Annual Beaver Creek Art Festival. With the temps so hot in both Arkansas and Florida offices, we accepted and flew 4.5 hours to land in the cool mountain air of Denver, where we rented a car and drove up beautiful I-70 to Beaver Creek to meet Pat and his wife, Tracee, another painter.
We found Pat painting outside on the plaza for the Sportsman’s Gallery and Paderewski Fine Art.
Sitting in the cool air of Colorado, watching this artist in action and seeing the passersby gawk, judge, barter, and buy, I was struck by the entrepreneurship of artists and the guts it takes to be so independent.
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And the finished painting! Be sure to follow Pat on Facebook to see what he’s working on next.
