Keith Miller was born in Toronto, Canada in 1949.  He was formally educated in the arts of drawing and painting – first at Ontario College of Art and Design and later at Sheridan College, School of Visual and Creative Arts in Ontario, Canada. 

Much of his adult life has been spent abroad.  After years of travel, in 1990 he settled in San Miguel de Allende – a historic colonial town in central Mexico.  For over twenty years, using San Miguel de Allende as his base and with occasional forays back to South East Asia, he evolved his own painterly response to the world around him.  Intimate and coolly objective at the same time, his realism is both a critical examination of and love affair with that world.  Whether in the highlands of central Mexico or on the southern islands of Thailand, direct observation informs his work.  Nature provides the sustenance for Mr. Miller's impulse to always see, record, and remember.

Seductive, Erotic... these are a few of the descriptive words people associate with the floral paintings of Keith Miller.  The intense detail in his botanical paintings creates the impression of incredible energy in the flowers.  His ability to reveal the play of movement using light and shadow adds to the impression of natural energy in his botanical subjects.  When asked if he deliberately sought to create the feeling of sexual energy in his paintings, Miller replied, “Other people see them that way.  I'm just looking at the forms of the flowers, trying to paint in a robust and lively way.”  Whether rendering depictions of tulips or a hibiscus blossom or an orchid flower, Mr. Miller's works in oil offer brilliant detail alluding to a sensuality and eroticism.

Miller's work has been strongly influenced by 19th century American painter, Martin Johnson Heade.  Heade was associated with the Luminist School of landscape painters.  Luminist painters of the mid- and late 19th century were concerned with light and poetic, sublime atmospherics of landscapes, aerial perspectives, and the hiding of visible brush strokes.  Miller confides, “I frequently looked at Heade's work.  He was definitely an important influence.”  Heade's Luminist perspective is most evident in Miller's paintings with flowers, birds, and vines in the extreme foreground, as mountains, lakes, and forests disappear in to the mystical distance.

Nanci Race of The Artful Mind magazine noted:  “Miller is a virtuoso painter and his flowers especially are beautifully realized, shot through with stormy light and sexual energy.”   The hint of eroticism is manifest in every painting.  Looking at the paintings, one can almost see the flowers breathe deeply.  There is a tangible elegance in the succulent, luxurious flowers.  When referred to as a virtuoso painter, Miller states, “I think that relates to the older techniques I use.  I pay attention to light and shade and that depicts volume which relates to the traditional nature of oil painting on canvas.”  His classic techniques with the use of light and shade serve to increase the mystery of his paintings.  Miller says that his paintings are always based on observation and en plein air drawings.  He has spent a lot of time drawing while traveling throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. 

Keith Miller's paintings can be found in the collection of the U.S. Department of State and in private and corporate collections in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. 

Galeria 19 Fine Art in Fredericksburg, Texas is Mr. Miller's exclusive representative in Texas.

Works