741A7134_websize (1).jpg — Emma Miller, October’s collaborator

Emma is MY PEOPLE, y’all she is so nice. She is so cool to work with, and she seems wise beyond her years. I found Emma through (drumroll please) ….HASHTAGS on Instagram. I fell in love with her live event paintings, and overtime we started chitchatting through Instagram and became awesome acquaintances. We decided to seize the opportunity this fall with some harvest inspired artworks. Our giveaway will be happening on the day of the shop update (OCTOBER 30th,2020), but first check out her artist interview:

What is Emma all about?

Emma Miller is a contemporary landscape and still life painter from Springfield, OH. She spent most of her childhood living overseas in France, Belgium, and parts of West Africa and came back to the United states to get a bachelors in fine art at Asbury University. She now lives in an old brick house in Downtown Springfield, OH with her husband Thomas and Rabbit Rembrandt. She teaches high school art part time at a local school, cofounded a community art fair (ArtSoFo), and spends the majority of her time painting in her home studio. Her work is grounded in realism with playful and bold brushstrokes, inspired by warm vibrant colors and the natural world.

How did you get started doing artwork online?

I started doing commissions for people through Facebook 8 years ago while I was still in school and have since started a website and grown an instagram following through which I sell my work to my collectors.

What is your biggest inspiration, and your biggest lesson for/in this business?

I am inspired by unexpectedly vivid color combinations found in nature, wide open spaces where you can see for miles, and the way light and shadow affect our perception of color.

The biggest lesson I have learned recently has been that planning and inspiration matters. You can't make beautiful work out of nothing. It takes time and you have to put good ingredients into the crock pot to make good soup (metaphorically speaking haha)

How do you feel your two jobs work nicely together?

My other job is teaching High school art and I love the way that regularly thinking critically and giving feedback on students work to help them improve makes me think more critically and about my own work and what I can change to make each piece more successful.

Do you have any big goals you are working toward in art?

I feel like I have tried a little bit of everything as an artist and my biggest goal right now is to figure out how to hold the tension of making lots of work and not putting myself in a box but also slowly refining my work down to only what I truly love to create and carries my unique perspective.

What is some advice you would give to a new artist who is thinking about selling their work online?

My biggest piece of advice would be to give your collectors something to follow and get attached to. This is especially important if your work isn't super distinct or cohesive. Either do a challenge where you create something regularly or work on collections of smaller pieces telling a bigger story. Its hard to get people to care and invest in something completely out of the blue, it has to feel very connected either to your brand or a bigger story that they can get attached to slowly over time.