A Ray of Light Drawing

For Matt, painting has always been a part of his life, even as a young boy he sketched and practiced calligraphy with his Grandfather throughout his childhood."It's in the blood that's all I can put it down to," Matt said. Matt’s Grandfather was a sign writer and when I was 8 he taught me how to write in calligraphy, then I started sketching and from there it developed into a higher skill. The son of a carpenter and furniture craftsman, Matt used to help his father throughout his teenage years. Also went on to help his uncle of the same trade in his adult life with various projects and had a lot of skills passed on and inherited with woodwork over 20 years. Matt was offered an apprenticeship with his father but decided to follow in his Grandfathers footsteps, starting a sign writing apprenticeship at 19 years-old. It was during this apprenticeship he discovered the airbrush, Matt's artistic talent was visible early on in his career and this was recognized through a number of awards."At 19 I was voted the apprentice of the year and through working in the sign industry I submitted a photo of some sign work I had done and was voted the best airbrush Artist in Australia," he said.However, Matt did take a break from sign writing after finding work too commercial, graphically designed, computer printed and uninspiring. He then worked demolition for 3 years and decided to collect as much timber as he could due to the fact he had been making guitars for the past 8 years and knew its value. Matt Jonas has painted many portraits of bands including AC/DC, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Slipknot, Garbage, Silverchair, Rammstein, Henry Rollins, Max & Igor Cavalera, Mike Patton, Tomahawk, Shirley Manson, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kyuss, Queens of the stone age, Fear Factory, Powderfinger, Murderdolls, The Prodigy, Tea Party, Jet, Billy Connolly, The Living End, Grinspoon, Tim Rogers, Superjesus, Superheist, Steve & Mark Waugh, Chopper Read, The Butterfly Effect, Frenzal Rhomb and Benfolds Five just to name afew, these paintings have all been personally autographed by the artists themselves Matt has been living in Goolwa since 2010 making a name for himself through his public art and the teaching of airbrush and signwriting skills involving local youth.