Paint Hues Reflect Dallas Artist’s Colorful Journey
‘Aha moment’ prompts musician’s passion for brushstrokes
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 the 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, racing home from his day job at CBS Radio to paint every night, seven days a week, for two years straight.
Taking a different approach than he had done with his musical aspirations, Miller dove into learning from the Masters.
“I devoured everything I could,” he said, describing reading 10 to 20 art books a 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,” he said. “Had I known, I would have studied the Masters so I could stand on their shoulders.”
An introduction to his mentor, the then 85-year-old Liz Richardson, who had spent her life studying the principles of art, showed the budding artist why it’s no accident that certain art pieces become revered museum pieces.
With a conviction that art should be representative of life, Miller’s reflectionist philosophy has been the cornerstone to guiding his painting for 25 years. The artist said that he’s always seen color, and as a musician attempted to translate his visions of color into sound.
“Art, like people is meant to connect,” Miller 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 and Dallas restauranteur Phil Romano (founder of Macaroni Grill, Fuddruckers, and EatZi’s) opened the Samuel Lynne Galleries, named after Romano’s son and Miller’s daughter.
Miller also co-owns galleries in Houston, Chicago, and Whitefish, Mont. As a featured artist on American Airlines’ Apollo: Art in the Sky channel, his work is seen on thousands of flights each day.
The live presentation of his annual Valentine’s Day floral arrangement marked its 10th anniversary at the Samuel Lynne Galleries. The sold-out event has been the go-to spot for February 14th dates for a decade.
The packed house of newbie art enthusiasts mingling with seasoned collectors sat transfixed by the artist’s strokes.
The piece took 72 minutes to complete and was then auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Miller hopes the beholder of his abstract pieces draws individualized meaning from his art, conveying he rarely scraps a canvas, but instead keeps adding to and changing the piece.
Painter’s block isn’t something Miller experiences. And the artist isn’t sitting around watching his 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,” said Miller.
“Hundreds of years from now, somewhere deep inside of the thick inclusions of oil paint on a reflectionist canvas will remain undried,” said Miller, the analogy to life’s undying connectivity evident in both his musings and his paintbrush.
