Hello!
I'm April Miller
She taught me patience. She taught me how to finish something and also how to walk away when you could do no more.
At age 15 I remember starting an art class at school. I would come with homework in hand. How do I shadow? How do I show perspective? How do I create from nothing? She would sit and teach me everything she knew.
My father in turn would provide us with endless trips to amazing picnics and hikes where we would hunt butterflies, pick wild grass and flowers only to come home, dry them and then create amazing shadow boxes.
Fast forward through all these years of artistic exposure. I was given the opportunity in 2019 to leave my office job journey of 20 years and pursue whatever my heart desired.
Oddly enough my art was still in the background of what I currently do which is healing the body through sound and vibration as a Biofield Practitioner. This is where my interest...no obsession with the body's energies and how they work come from.
One day, my brother was making soap designs and he said... "April! This would be so cool as one of your paintings!" Through this inspiration I worked and created things that I could not even imagine. My husband told me that I needed to make them my own. What does this mean? "They are my own," I thought. But he was right. They needed my touch, my obsession, my love.
All my life, my poor father was subject to my mother's arm whacking him across the chest on every drive. The words exclaimed were "BILL STOP!" When we heard these words and the wind being lovingly knock out of my father's chest we knew...mom saw a rock on the side of the road that she had to have! She brought all of these rocks to each and every home we lived in. She made rock gardens, rock pathways and small walls. It is no surprise to me that I have a love of rocks as well.
Combining my love of energy work with the energy I find in all stones, I now have paintings that are my own. Most all of my paintings are inlayed with beautiful semi precious gems and stones from all over the world.
Through the long hours of dedication from my husband and the endless time on my feet I continue to wake up every morning feeling like it is Christmas. I can't wait to go down into my studio and work, and it is not uncommon for me to disappear for 10 hours or more at a time.
Now as a grandparent I get to share this with my grandson. I hope to be an inspiration to him and my children as my mother is to me. I believe she is now resting in peace in nothing short of one of her great scenic paintings.
“I love to look at art, I love to look at paintings, and I almost feel like the experience isn’t complete until I’ve made something of my own.” – Cecily Brown
My own! lol
Artistic expression through acrylic paints on canvas and inlaid with semi precious gems and stones.
Documented 01/03/2020
So, for months I’ve been struggling with where and how to sign my paintings. A few weeks ago, I was watching a lot of videos regarding this very thing, when another artist used a stamp with her business log and then signed the back of her canvas. I though this was a decent idea.
A few hours later I was down in my craft closet looking
for a stencil when I came across a shoe box that I did not recognize. Mind you, I have been rummaging in this closet
for 8 ish years and had never seen it.
So strange I thought. I pulled it
down from the top shelf and blew a light layer of dust from its lid. To my utter dismay I found a box full of
rubber stamps of all my mother’s characters that she had drawn when creating
her “Dusty & Friends” line.
There are no coincidences. To me this was placed before me at the exact time I needed it. I was drawn to tears as I sat looking through these beautiful rubber stamps. I remembered sitting drawing with her as a young girl. Her teaching me how to perfectly shade a tree while considering my light source. Making butterfly frames and cross-stitching beautiful and intricate pieces of art.
She supported me through my clay sculpting phase, my scrapbooking phase and everything else creative in between in my life. So how fitting…Yes, my dear mother, you are in everything I do. Thank you for giving me the opportunity even after death for you to find a placed in my paintings.
I have decided to place and commemorate, with my father’s permission, each of my paintings with one of her creations through these stamps.
In Loving memory of my mother
Where all creativity began
I have had people ask me how I think I am an “artist” overnight. My answer? It wasn’t overnight. I’ve been groomed my entire life for this moment. I just decided “overnight” to put direction and focus to it and then actually share it with more than my husband and the shelves in my closet. I recognize that there is not success without the participation and support of others so to those of you who support me, I am eternally grateful.
I know my mother is looking down on me each day and is proud of what she has helped create. There is no butterfly, no coconut cream pit, no bowl of fresh raspberries or dinner bell rung that will ever have the sweet sound of what your voice brings to my life each day.
Till I am in your arms again, I love you…
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This means you can use the camera on your phone or tablet and superimpose any piece of art onto a wall inside of your home or business.
To use this feature, Just look for the "Live Preview AR" button when viewing any piece of art on this website!
