Summoning The Beast

Mid-stage of a new painting. This is what's on the easel today. The model's outfit takes inspiration from the old Waterhouse painting 'The Magic Circle." In that painting a gypsy sorceress is making an incantation. I wanted to twist the idea of belief in the supernatural by coupling a very intent looking sorceress with a comical 'beast' image behind her.

New MaxMillerArt.com Being Created

Though it will not be a radical departure from the current design, the new MaxMillerArt.com, which will launch in maybe a month or so, will be a much needed update. Specifically in format. Hold your breath, it's almost here.

Torrent Portent

Here's an earlier pic of how this painting looked this morning, and the progress that I made on it today. I think that there's a thread I've been following lately about fear and superstition. There's still some more work to be done on the cat and the wall behind her.

This Bird Is Almost Cooked

The turkey vulture has entered my consciousness lately and I'm not sure why. Probably because it's the time of year to see them floating around in the sky, looking for carrion and looking like hawks. This painting is nearly, nearly finished and it's part of the 'Domestication' series that I've been working on. There's some more body work to be done and a little more work on the back wall as well that needs to be done. Poor old vulch is stuck inside.

Photography

I've had an on again off again relationship with photography for years, starting way back when I took my first photo class at the Gibbes in 1995. So I've been playing around recently with some photo work. It's refreshing to do something a bit different from painting. These two examples are sort of 'test pieces.' I think that whereas the new paintings are focusing on the ideas of layering that I'm very entranced by, the photos seem to be centering around the idea of scale and what can be done with that. Anyway, we'll see where it goes.

Impermanence

This is the titular work for the show in Lynchburg at the Academy of Art. It marks a new, mature direction for my paintings so I think it is only fitting for it to be the first painting posted here. The painting is 24 " x 24" oil on birch panel. Thematically it is about the transient nature of ideas and humanity in general. Or how the idea of ourselves is wispy/ethereal compared to the hard reality of bone and death.

Lynchburg, Virginia: Impermanence Show

The Academy of Art in Lynchburg was kind enough to have me by for a show during the month of June. There were 42 pieces, ranging from some of the small 3" x 3" works to a new, large 4' x 7' painting. The opening was a big success and and very complimentary. Here are a few shots at the start, before it got too crowded.

Let's Talk About Some Things

So. It's been awhile. Lot's has happened. And not much has been put up on this blog. I'm wondering if anyone even still looks at it. I've never been much of the 'journally' type of person, so daily updates, even weekly, have a tendency to elude me. BUT...the little group of sites I manage, this, MaxMillerPaintings.blogspot.com, MaxMillerArt.com and ArtStudentGallery.com are all going to be going through a few changes over the next few months. So, this site MaxMillerArt.blogspot.com will probably be the only reliable place to see consistent updates. Thus we are reinvented and reinvigorated.