Sierrastyle's Luxury Living - 44

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PAINTING FROM MEMORY
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and became an art major at Cal State Long Beach. That experience led to
another switch at t h e Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, after he
was blown away by t h e quality of the work in the student gallery. His
airbrush was still his tool of choice, creating photo-realistic images un-
til one of his professors, in Miura's words, poo-poohed it. I decided to
try and prove a point by painting with oils, Miura says. I found it
extraordinarily difficult which, of course, only made me want to do it
more. Before long I was hooked. Still, his early passion was illustration.
After college he moved to New York and made his mark as an editorial
illustrator. Before long, his work was appearing in Photo of Terry Miura
by Devin Bruce, www.devinbruce.com. Photos of paintings courtesy of Terry
Miura. m a j o r magazines like Time, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone
and others. He even had an artist's rare privilege when a piece he created
for American Heritage became part o f a permanent collection in the
Smithsonian. His interest in oils could not be left idle, however. Today,
his work can be seen lo- cally at the Exploding Head Gallery in
Sacramento, as well as in prominent gal- l e r i e s in Chicago, San
Francisco and S c o t t s d a l e . His Web site, www.ter- rymirua.com,
also features a full spectrum of his work, as well as information on work-
utes. Curious, Miura stood next to him, not cause it's a challenging
medium. It also puts shops, forums and a peek into the artist's saying who
he was, and waited for the him in good company. All the great mas- mind in
studio notes. man to speak. ters, my heroes, worked in oils, and I aspire
With so much accomplishment behind When he finally did, it wasn't about
color to be able to use the medium that way, he him, it would be hard to
describe Miura as or composition but about memories from says. anything
but a successful artist. Like most his childhood and traveling with his
family to Oils are also versatile, which creates op- people with a passion
for their craft, how- see his grandmother in South Dakota. Then portunities
for tremendous diversity in how ever, he's constantly looking to reach the
he just trailed off and got lost in the painting they're used. As Miura
points out, both next level as an artist. again, Miura says. But he wasn't
looking Rembrandt and Monet used oils, but their I enjoy variety in my
work, so I also paint at a painting in a gallery anymore. He'd been works
are absolutely nothing alike. still lifes and figures as well as
landscapes, transported to a totally different place and Despite his love
for oils today, they were but I really have to mentally switch gears time.
He'd connected to the piece on an not his first choice. In fact, he
practically from one to the other, he says. I'd like to emotional level.
For me, that's a successful began in oils out of spite. I started out as a
get to the point where the subject matter is painting. computer science
major at UC Irvine, but I irrelevant, so I'm not a landscape painter Of
course, it's hard to overlook the fact was spending most of my time silk
screen- one day and a still life painter the next. I just want to become a
painter.
http://www.terrymirua.com http://www.devinbruce.com
Sierrastyle's Luxury Living

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