JD Miller wanted to be a rockstar. That was until he laid eyes on the hue French Altamarine Blue.
The painter recalled the moment he first stroked the vibrant color onto canvas.
“The clouds parted, the sun came out, the cherubs and the birds were singing,” said Miller, describing the initial brushstroke as his “aha moment.”
“From that very moment, I knew that I had finally found my true voice,” he said, soon racing home from his day job at CBS Radio to paint every night, seven days a week, for two years straight.
The artist has always seen color. Even as a musician, he tried translating hues into sound.
After being introduced to his mentor, the then 85-year-old Liz Richardson, who had spent her life studying the principles of art, Miller decided to take a different approach to art than how he had explored music.
When Richardson showed the budding artist why it’s no accident that certain art pieces become revered museum pieces, Miller dove into learning from the Masters.
“I devoured everything I could,” he said, describing reading dozens of art books every month. “When I thought I wanted to be a rockstar, I had this idea that I needed to keep my vision pure. I never studied or took lessons, and I realized later that was a big mistake. Had I known, I would have studied the Masters so I could stand on their shoulders.”
With a conviction that art should be representative of life, Miller’s reflectionist philosophy has been the cornerstone of his painting for 25 years.
“Art, like people is meant to connect,” he said, reflecting on his deep-rooted musical beginnings that later channeled his philosophy of radiating positive energy through light and sound onto a canvas.
In 2008, JD Miller partnered with Dallas restauranteur Phil Romano — of Macaroni Grill, Fuddruckers, and EatZi’s fame — to open Samuel Lynne Galleries, named after Miller’s daughter and Romano’s son.
Miller also co-owns galleries in Houston, Chicago, and Whitefish. As a featured artist in American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs and on American Airlines’ Apollo: Art in the Sky channel, his work is seen in airports across the globe and on thousands of flights each day.
The live painting of his annual Valentine’s Day floral arrangement summoned a massive crowd on February 14. The sold-out event has been the go-to date night spot for over a decade.
The 3D floral piece took 72 minutes to complete. It was then auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The packed house included newbie art enthusiasts and seasoned collectors, who all stood transfixed by the artist’s strokes.
Miller said he hopes the beholder of his abstract pieces draws individualized meaning from his art. He rarely scraps a canvas, but instead keeps adding to and changing the piece. And, he revealed, painter’s block isn’t something he experiences, emphasizing he’s not sitting around watching paint dry.
“Unlike acrylic, which forms plastic when it dries, oil is organic. While acrylic and watercolors dry by paint evaporating, oil dries by absorbing, breathing in oxygen,” Miller said.
“Hundreds of years from now, somewhere deep inside of the thick inclusions of oil paint on a reflectionist canvas will remain undried,” the analogy to life’s undying connectivity evident in both Miller’s musings and paintbrush.
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