I mostly write, but am now trying to paint as well. I have no formal training as a painter (I think, from looking at these paintings, that that is obvious), and I'm interested in what that "lack" both allows and doesn't allow me to do. Glazes, scumbles, and hyperrealism are out--and I have to make up for them, as I slowly learn these techniques, with instinct and emotion. I think of it, in some ways, as a kind of right brain cross-training. I think it's obvious that I like the early avant-garde painters (Van Gogh, O'Keefe, Gonzalez, Modigliani, Braque, Ringgold, Grandma Moses) especially.

Matt Prater is a writer and visual artist from Saltville, VA. Currently an MFA candidate at Virginia Tech, his work has appeared in Crannog, The Moth, and Appalachian Heritage, among other publications.