Although he started out life studying mathematics and teaching, he can’t really remember a time when he  didn’t paint.

Although he was born in Wellington, NSW, he has lived in Rockley for 33 years.  

Mr Miller created his Rockley Studio 20 years ago out of mud brick. 

It his here he has his gallery, framing room, workshop and life drawing space. 

“I spend too much of my time in there,” he freely admits. 

Throughout his career he has done mostly landscape painting, many of them huge in scope and scale.

Mr Miller taught life  painting and drawing for five years at Charles Sturt University. He also taught at Orange TAFE for four years.

He has worked in various galleries around Australia, and has pieces in a number of major collections in Parliament House and the National Museum. 

He staged an exhibition, Macquarie 1810-2010, in 2010 at Parliament House in Sydney.

The artist used journals and notebooks to help give an insight into Governor Macquarie. He also spoke to Aboriginal people and looked at how the land was used at the time.

“That was really interesting,” he said.

“You can only use words as well as you understand them. It is like that for art too. 

“All your life you are trying to understand. You never understand, but you keep  trying.”

He also gave himself a  project of painting the sunset every single day for 12 months, no matter where he was at the time. 

This has meant he has had to bolt from dinners, leave  conversations unfinished, and pull the car over to the side of the road to capture the dying light.

“I really enjoyed that  project,” he said.

“Sometimes you get on a roll and sometimes you get off it, but with the sunsets I had no choice. I had to keep going. 

“I was working on big  paintings during the day and then I would stop everything to do my little sunset.

“It didn’t matter what else was going on.”

Mr Miller’s solo exhibitions have included Celebrating 25 Years at Rockley, Rockley Studio in 2006 and Light is my Consolation, at the Stop Laughing This Is Serious Gallery, Blackheath in 2003. 

He also had a solo exhibition in 1992 at the University of Western Sydney, Milperra. 

In 1981, he was awarded the Life Drawing Prize, Macquarie Art School Bathurst. 

He completed Studying in Leonardo’s Shoes, Anatomy Workshop, at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 2004. 

He also studied life drawing with David Wilson at the Macquarie Art School Bathurst in 1981 and in 1978-79 he  completed a study tour of major art museums and  galleries in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, France and Italy.

However, Mr Miller has spent the past two years of his life preparing an exhibition titled Journeys West, which was the brainchild of former Orange Regional Gallery  director Alan Sisley, who died in February. 

The exhibition, which  features 36 artists including Mr Miller, opened at Orange Regional Gallery on October 3 and will run until November 14. 

Local artists include Peter Marshall from Rockley, Ingrid Morley of Tarana, Gria Shead of  Bathurst, David Lake of Newbridge and Rachel Ellis of Bathurst. 

Mr Miller and his wife Chris have three children and two grandchildren. 

One of the artist’s fondest memories is of visiting his son when he was living in Nepal and having the opportunity to paint and walk in the mountains.

Mr Miller was studying  mathematics at Mitchell College when he began  painting professionally. He was in his early 20s. He found himself working as a gardener in 1974 for renowned artist Reg Campbell and his wife Evelyn, an artist in her own right. 

The couple recognised his talent and mentored him.  Now he has paintings in public and private collections in Australia, the UK, China, Japan, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

“I’ve been very lucky – very fortunate,” he said.