Being an Artist is in my genes

Isabelle K. Miller was my maternal grandmother and a huge inspiration to me. She was a strong woman, a talented oil painter, a savy business woman (when most women were homemakers), a loving and giving mother and grandmother. She loved her gardens, Garden Club, crafting and antiquing. All of the granchildren called her Nana. She signed her paintings I.K. Miller. She studied in Allentown at The Baum School with Jerry Quier and Queenie Stein for well over 15 years

    

She and my Aunt owned a home together in a small town near Allentown Pa. When visiting her in Pennsylvania I vividly remember being surrounded by her beautiful paintings. In the kitchen she changed the paintings seasonally, there must have been a huge magic closet full of her creations somewhere in the house! A picture with pumpkins for Halloween, turkeys at Thanksgiving (a favorite holiday always spent there with my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle), pointsettas at Christmas.... well you get the idea.

It looked like a fine art gallery in the downstairs hallways. The walls were covered with her landscapes, florals and still lives. One more beautiful than the next. All framed to perfection

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One of my favorite pictures with her was when I graduated from Syracuse University with a BA in Surface Pattern Design. She was so proud of me and the look on her face shows it. When I was freelancing in NYC I designed a morning glory pattern and when those sheets were out in the marketplace my Mom went out and bought them for her. They matched her bedroom perfectly as she loved the color blue.

All the beauty of her painting must have seeped into my bones, the inspiration was deep down in my soul. And now it's found a voice in my own paintings. I prefer to paint with watercolors but I have recently tried my hand at oil painting. I feel like she has guided me to this place and is cheering me on from above. Her entrepenurial spirit lives in me and when I pick up my brush I feel her stannding beside me with a smile on her face.