An Interview with Fantasy Artist Sue Miller

By Faith McKay

http://www.suemillerart.com/

Fantasy Artist Sue Miller produces some amazing work and is a valuable asset to the fantasy community. Her enthusiasm for her work as an artist, teacher, and member of the fantasy and art communities is apparent in everything she does. Below is an interview I had the pleasure of doing with her recently where she discusses her role as an artist and teacher, how that integrates into her life currently and in the past, and her general passion for all that she does.

FantasyIsLove.com:
How do you describe your art work to people you've just met who have never seen it?

Sue Miller:
I think you would describe my art work as Fantasy Art work. I work in water colors and love to paint my own little world. A place to go to escape the world we all live in.

FantasyIsLove.com:
How much time would you say you spend on each painting?

Sue Miller:
It depends on the size I am painting. Of course smaller pieces take less time. Plus it depends on how much detail is in each painting. The details take extra time.
Funny thing some paintings come very fast and often paint by them selves if that makes any sense. They are paintings that are I guess inside me just ready to pour out onto the paper. There is a lot of creative flow happening. Then there are some paintings that take longer.

FantasyIsLove.com:
Being a self employed artists is hard. What keeps you motivated?

Sue Miller:
I have always been an artist and made my living doing art work of some kind. Many years I did commercial art work full time in ad agencies or art studios. But I would always come home and spend the nights painting. Later on in life I opened up an art teaching business called "The Magic Palette Art Studio". It was always my dream to be able to work right out of my home. That business took off and I became known as the most popular art teacher in my town. There was a period of time when I taught 130 kids in my home studio every week . Plus I had a waiting list of students that wanted to join but I had no more room in my classes for them. WOW! I have to say that was some schedule to maintain between painting and teaching and running my home and personal life. But I just love my students and they often inspire many paintings. I use many of them for models in my work. It's actually an artists dream to have access to all these beautiful faces and I also paint my two nieces. I now have had to cut back on my art teaching and I only teach 4 days a week and that gives me more time for my personal painting projects. I am recently signed to the Fairy Society (www.thefairysociety.com) . The owner is Sheri Baldi and she is an incredibly awesome person. Not only a terrific artists herself but an amazing business lady .She now has on board dozens of artists and she gets licensing deals for us. She's acting as my art agent so to speak. I was thrilled by her offer to join this amazing group of talented artists like herself ,Amy Brown,Jessica Galbreth and many more. We all work together in a very respectful environment with every artist trying to help the other. We all feel this way everyone wins because ultimately in life what you give is often what you get and I find this special group I have joined has this philosophy.

FantasyIsLove.com:
What originally inspired you to be a fantasy artist?

Sue Miller:
I have always enjoyed painting my own little world. I think in my art work I try to create the perfect little world. I try to make people happy when they look at my art work.

FantasyIsLove.com:
How did you get into teaching?

Sue Miller:
I was doing commercial art work for years professionally before teaching and I was actually laid off from my job . Our country was in a recession at that time. I was upset when it happened concerned about money. But my wonderful husband was the one that came up with the idea to teach art in my home studio and I started advertising for myself for the first time in my life and the phone never stopped ringing. My list of art students kept growing so much I had to enlarge the art room.:-)

FantasyIsLove.com:
How do you spilt your time between painting and teaching?

Sue Miller:
I work a lot of hours and I have a lot of energy thank God. I stay up late and get work done. It's my passion so I don't tire easily. When I don't paint I get crazy HA! HA!

FantasyIsLove.com:
I read that you do gallery exhibits. How do you prepare for a gallery exhibit?

Sue Miller:
Art shows are a tremendous amount of work. I paint large and everything has to be wrapped and also carried. It's physical work . I find I am refusing to do a lot of shows because of that reason. It's great exposure but people don't realize how much work goes into it. I also do an annual art show for my art students every fall and I have to say even thats getting almost too much work. They are always very successful and I get a lot of local press in the area

FantasyIsLove.com:
You work on your art, you run a web site, your work is in publications,you do gallery exhibits and so on. What is your favorite part of what you do?

Sue Miller:
I enjoy wonderful web lady Julie Fain ( www.creativitydesigns.com ) is a doll and she is almost my right hand. I paint a real lot so there is always work that has to be added to my ever growing web site gallery. She makes that part of my work very enjoyable. Plus I also enjoy my students. They keep me young and they are a big inspiration for me. So all in all I guess I really love all parts of my life and work. I'm lucky because my family is also very supportive. I truly appreciate my husband for his many hours of helping me with my computer graphic work.

The artwork featured in this interview is available for purchasing on Sue Miller's website, as well as other amazing pieces of fantasy art! Be sure to check out http://www.suemillerart.com/ !