MELISSA MILLER
ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I have hiked the Eno hundreds of times. I have walked its trails with boyfriends, my husband, girlfriends, and most recently, my children. Time is marked in my life by who walks this place beside me or scampering and giggling over rocks in front of me.

I am not exactly sure when the river became my muse. I have spent the better part of the past few years painting structures, preferably abandoned and old. But last year the Eno changed. Receding with the drought, a rocky, almost craggy shoreline was exposed in places. Moving slowly, water pooled into reflecting ponds while trickling slowly on its path. It is as if I was seeing the trails and river for the first time again. Perhaps my muse changed, but a recurring theme has not; after all the Eno has been abandoned by much of its water.


MELISSA MILLER
BIOGRAPHY

I have been a painter for my entire life. As a child I would spend hours in the wooded area behind our house just observing the trees and water flowing in a nearby stream. I remember feeling that trees were sacred and I was in awe of the large old oaks on our property. I would study the leaves and their intricate pattern of veins as well as climb into the canopy of a tree downed by lightning which lived for years via a slip of a root connection still intact. That was a magical place which left a lasting impression on me to this day.

I began working in earnest in 1995 after discovering the versatility offered by acrylic media in evening art classes with Jane Filer. I developed an immediate affinity for landscapes particularly subjects with a uniquely southern flavor such as abandoned farm houses, rural stretches of roads, ever present hay bales which roll lazily down hillsides of Orange County. I worked to lock in a style of paint application, composition, and subject matter choice that was uniquely my own. I frequently sought out critique from artists whose work I admired to punctuate years of just plain painting hundreds of paintings. A major influence for me is the California Colorists.