​Midas was a king of great fortune, great vanity, and even greater avarice. In the popular Greek myth, he found a satyr asleep in his rose gardens and recognized him as a companion of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry. Midas treated the satyr to ten days of feasting and celebration, and on the eleventh day returned him to the grateful god Dionysus who, in turn, granted Midas one wish. Being a king of excessive wealth and exceptional greed, Midas wished for all he touched to be turned to gold, then paraded through his castle touching every statue and trinket he could, admiring his clever reflection in the golden walls. It is this moment that “The Touch of Midas” depicts. Soon after, the king would come to regret his wish, atoning for his vanity and greed after realizing he could not eat tasteless gold, nor sleep on hard metal pillows. Here, Midas’s touch is merely gold paint, and the artist takes on the role of Midas by using the same brush and tube of paint seen at the center of the composition, turning a bare panel surface into a painting of gold.
By changing Midas’s wish to a boon of artistic skill, this painting explores the parable’s moral message as it relates to the ancient Greek ideas of creativity. In Greek mythology, art and creativity were the result of divine inspiration, and as Midas has learned, shouldn’t be hoarded, but shared with the world.
The artist has also hand built the tabernacle frame housing this painting, with thin columns and large base and entablature emulating ancient Greek architecture. The inside of this frame is painted with the same gold paint featured in the artwork.

2023 was a big year! I participated in 55 exhibitions, received 59 awards, and appeared in 2 collection catalogues, 5 print magazines, and 15 online publications.

I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had to share my artwork with all of you, and I look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead in 2024. Thank you as always for your constant support!

Thank you to all of the galleries, grant foundations, and art publications for the opportunity to participate!

Fall is always a busy season for art exhibitions. I’m so pleased to have had the opportunity to participate in several this month!

First, my charcoal drawing Cervicalgia exhibited in “The Skull and Skeleton in Art” at The Gallery at Lakeland. It was such a pleasure to exhibit with so many talented artists from my home city of Cleveland! You can watch a video walkthrough of the entire exhibition here on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGZXbDb7ePk Thanks very much to gallery curator Mary Urbas for the opportunity!

Then, I got the good news that some of my artworks will be featured in a few magazines! I received an Honorable Mention in Artists Network's 40th Annual Art Competition! My painting “The Tale of the Curious Oysters” will be printed in the Jan/Feb issue of Artists Magazine, set to hit newsstands on December 26th. I also won 2nd Place in Art and Color 365's Drawings Competition and received a very generous 4 pages in the Fall issue of the magazine. Thank you very much to The Artists Network and Art&Color 365 for these publication opportunities.

I received a few awards, most notably the Masterpiece Prize in the American Art Awards. My painting “The Journeyman” won in 4 categories – First Place Self Portrait, Second Place Oil (Figure), Third Place Realism (Human), and Sixth Place Realism (Still Life). This was my first time participating in the American Art Awards, and I had a great experience. Thank you to Thom Bierdz for the opportunity!

Some other exhibitions I participated in October included:
- “Realism” at Camelback Gallery (The Tale of the Curious Oysters received a Bronze award)
- September Monthly Painting Competition at BoldBrush (The Tale of the Curious Oysters received a Jury Favorite)
- “Faces & Features” at Gallery 4 Percent (The Journeyman received a Distinction award)
- The 92nd Annual Juried Online Exhibition at the National Art League (The Journeyman received the Don Huber Memorial Award)
- “Figure/Portrait” with Richeson75 International (The Journeyman)
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Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement! As things wind down for the approaching winter season, I look forward to taking some time to rest and reflect on everything I’ve accomplished this year.

I'm so excited to announce my latest painting, The Kiss of Consecration. This painting has been forming for the last 4 years with the first sketches being scribbled all the way back in 2019. I've kept it in mind since then and I finally got back to working on the composition earlier this year. This is the largest painting I've done to date at 42x60 inches and is the first painting I've built totally from scratch - making stretcher bars, stretching the linen, and building an arched tabernacle frame to match. I'll share more pictures of the framed work once its hanging in the gallery next week for the opening of Capturing Realism Caribbean! Until then, let me tell you a little about the painting:

The Kiss of Consecration is a dramatic contemporary interpretation of Joan of Arc’s vision of St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine instructing her to defend the French countryside from the invading English.
The central figures are intentionally anachronistic, with modern hair and tattoos alluding to the contemporary narrative, and the composition ambiguous. The wings that embrace them seem to simultaneously come from both characters and Joan of Arc wears a halo rather than the figure she believes to be Saint Michael. He materializes behind her, his full form obscured, whispering intimately into her ear and arming her with an allusion to St. Michael’s flaming sword. His titular kiss is reminiscent of Judas’ kiss, the kiss of death, indicative of his sinister nature. He is a representation of the religious ideology that compelled Joan to take up arms, and of the church who burned her at the stake then later claimed her as a saint.
Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine look on in trepidation with Joan’s armor and battle standard, knowing that she is doomed to the same fate they suffered. Historically, all three women died young as martyrs of the church. Three nearby ravens appear as omens of their death. Notably, the models chosen for the three figures are of different nationalities - Dominican, Mexican, and American - suggesting that the message of the painting is globally broad.

Thank you to the art models: Kelsey Rubenking, Zach Miller, Luz Sahira Rosario, and Karla Rebolledo Moset!

I recently finished building the companion frame for my painting, The Tale of the Curious Oysters! The painting was inspired by 17th-century Dutch still life paintings, so I decided to try my hand at building a period ripple mold style frame with Flemish corners to match. Thank you to historical frame recreationist Philip Taylor, whom I consulted with on several occasions to learn how to accomplish this goal. I’m so happy to finally share it with you!

Another big thank you to fellow ÀNI artists Fraelo Lantigua Garcia and Luz Sahira Rosario for assisting me in the shop. We’ve all learned a lot and I look forward to seeing the frames that they’ll craft as well! And also to my mother, Pam Miller for custom engraving the perfect brass name plate for the frame.
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This was a really cool challenge, and I had a lot of fun. I’ve been really excited about making my own moldings and building my own frames as companions for my paintings, making the two together a single unified piece of art. This painting, along with a couple of other paintings and frames I’ve been working on, will be exhibiting at the upcoming Capturing Realism Caribbean exhibition at Arte San Ramón Gallery, opening on November 3rd. Can’t wait to share more about those pieces with you soon!