About the Artist

 

David Miller

I have been drawing, sculpting, and arranging objects around me my entire life and finding beauty in the simplest of things.  I drew the turtle when I was a kid, the Art Test, and filled three ring binders full of lined paper drawings of everything from animals to the Space Shuttle.  Around the age of 16, my grandmother gave me an artist kit, loaded with charcoal, pencils, sketchbooks, and lots of instruction which I took to heart and learned basics.    

I wasn't ready for college, so I joined the Air Force and spent nearly seven years serving, which took me to Anchorage, Alaska for the last four years of my enlistment.  While there, I started my degree by taking 3D design and sculpture with Chip Williams, drawing, and photography at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.  I loved working at the university with all of the tools and artists like myself that were still searching for their individual path. 

Life took over from there and set aside my art work for a while while I separated from the Air Force and took a position with the Louisiana Air National Guard where I finished after 21 years.  So much happened then, 9/11, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Isaac, Jenna 7, BP Oil Spill, all things that the national guard responded to and all of the many long days and nights working with great people for the good of the people.

During that time, I went back and finished my Bachelor's degree in information technology, but more importantly, I started pursuing more artistic interests, violin lessons at Loyola, guitar lessons with my friends, and piano lessons with my children.  All of this brought me joy, and I could feel the music, but it was never enough and with all the different paths, I wasn't getting very far in any of them.  So I started painting in earnest.  I set aside all other distractions that I could, putting down the musical instruments and poured myself into learning the technical aspects of painting, the mediums, preparing the canvas, learning washes and glazes, and about a thousand YouTube videos and many books on techniques.  I needed to know how it worked before I could comfortably, freely, paint.  I work best when I thoroughly know my material and subject.

Presently, I spend two or more hours a day painting, trying to make each work a test, figure studies, color mixing, painterly strokes, luminosity, composition, and experimentation. 

I spend nearly as much time out in the garden landscaping as I do painting, tending to a space that I am creating to inspire my paintings and to provide an escape, especially in this last year of isolation.  Soon I will have so many flowers to paint.  

 

Contact me at artist@artdaviller.com