Self Interview 1) Why do you paint? Painting is a way of saying what can't be said any other way. Painting is a way of giving form to one's feelings. Painting, it turns out, is about responsibility in its original form—in the sense that it is a response to the visible world. Painting is my way of getting even with the world and making love to it at the same time. I paint to deserve to live. And—to quote my old friend Marty Washburn—painting is "my way of being with people". 2) What is it about the landscape that intrigues you? Its beauty of course. In my pursuit of natural beauty I am always confounded, because whatever I have done, or attempted, nature always presents me with something more beautiful—as if to mock me. 3) Why do you paint so many nudes, as opposed to clothed figures? Partly it's that my training has all been drawing and painting from the nude model, but it is my preference too. The human form, nude, in all its variations, is at its most mysterious, fascinating and beautiful.         Woman defies discovery         In this or any century         Since her complete disrobery         Reveals but denser mystery. It's also more than likely that my extremely puritan religious upbringing, with its formative years of deprivation, have enhanced, or exacerbated (depending on your viewpoint) my obsession with sex. 4) You seem to give particular attention to breasts... Yes. Breasts are not only sexual objects to me: they are the loving warmth and heart of a woman—forgiving, comforting, consoling and life-affirming.         — Paul Matthews, 9/26/06