Matt graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting. Somewhat disappointed with the school’s abstract-oriented art program, he spent significant personal time studying the traditional styles of such landscape masters as Maynard Dixon, William Herbert Dunton, and Edgar Payne.

Most of the time, Matt can be found painting en plein air from southern Arizona to the Canadian Rockies or from the California coast to the mountains of Colorado. He comments: "I respect the tradition behind classical landscape painting, and I’m particularly inspired by pristine locations.  I enjoy working in areas where one can travel for miles without seeing the influence of man. When I paint, I feel I’ve hit the mark when I’ve captured a balance between mood, look, and feel. You know you’ve succeeded when viewers sense the desert heat, or the chill of a mountain snowfall, or the mist hanging over a lake. No one can improve on nature’s landscapes."