NEWPORT, Ore. -- The Mona Lisa decorating a hillside off Highway 20, near Newport, Ore., may be smiling, but motorists who have crashed in the area are not.

Photo courtesy of the Newport News-Times

A driver stopping to admire the Mona Lisa on Highway 20 caused a truck to veer off the road in order to avoid a collision.

The grassy, 40 by 60-foot copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is apparently distracting drivers to the point of recklessness. Vehicles slowing and stopping to take a look at the work of art have caused crashes twice this week, according to Oregon State Police.

In response, Oregon Department of Transportation employees set up barricades along the highway pullout after the accidents on Wednesday.

Artist Samuel Clemens, who spent eight years preparing the hillside for the masterpiece created from a stencil on a tarp and black, water-based pigment, has mixed feelings about the issue.

Clemens said that he would feel terrible if someone got into a serious accident because the art had diverted his or her attention from the road. However, he has no plans to cover up or destroy his grassy canvas.

Photo courtesy of Pat Ringer

Mona Lisa in the grass near Toledo, Ore.

“I’m a little surprised, but I’m not going to change it. People need to take responsibility for one’s actions and drive safely,” he told kgw.com reporter Drew Mikkelsen. "It's a little bit of sunshine when there's war in the news and turmoil in the world."

Clemens contends his rendering of the Mona Lisa is no more distracting than billboards splattered over highways across the state. Some of the billboards in the past year advertised energy drinks and featured giant pictures of voluptuous, scantily-clad women.

He added that nature will take its course soon enough – once fall's rainy season sets in, the Mona Lisa will begin to fade away.

But police, transportation officials and drivers are concerned about the meantime.

“It's not this guy's fault people are getting in accidents. I just want him to be aware of what’s going on,” said OSP Lt. Kelly Collins, who planned to speak with Clemens Friday and warn of the potential for civil action by drivers involved in crashes.

Collins said state police have been getting letters from drivers complaining that the work of art has created a traffic nuisance. Because the replica is on private land, no one has the authority to demand that Clemens cover it up.

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Background:   Mona Lisa appears near Newport

Clemens bought the former dairy farm eight years ago, and has been working since then to rid the hillside of vegetation such as blackberry brambles and to let the grasses grow. He said the "Mona Lisa' image took nearly 25 hours to trace and spray. He finished the second weekend of August.

“I was always going to do the 'Mona Lisa,' I did it because the 'Mona Lisa' is the most recognized thing," Clemens said. Clemens does not think he's related to the renown writer Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.

The art is visible as drivers round a corner of U.S. 20, four miles east of the coastal Oregon town of Newport.

(kgw.com reporter Drew Mikkelsen and the Associated Press contributed to this article.)