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WESTFORD — A local artist will soon be sharing her collection of work with the community.
Lifelong artist and Westford resident Judy Miller grew up in Hudson, Massachusetts where she discovered her love for painting.
“When I was in middle school, my art teacher got me to do murals for the school,” Miller told WestfordCAT. “I knew somebody who did this downtown, they had me paint their window. It became a thing and one by one I painted people’s windows.”
Miller later attended the Rhode Island School of Design with a focus in graphic design and publishing, later working for a number of Boston-area advertising firms.
She transitioned to education publishing, designing book covers and graphics for textbooks. Later earning her Masters in Elementary Education, she eventually began work as a math interventionist at Abbot School. Through her career changes, Miller continued to paint part-time.
Miller transitions to full-time painter
Miller later resigned from her position at Abbot School at the start of the pandemic, opting to paint full-time and hoping to continue to share a story through each of her paintings.
“Every painting has a story behind it,” Miller said. “You have to be flexible and work around it. I try not to just copy exactly what I see, I want my work to tell a story.”
She continued, “Painting, drawing, all of that is very similar to your handwriting. That’s your language, the way you express yourself.”
Miller noted she is working on a piece with Muffins on Main as her subject, opting to travel to the business rather than paint from a photo.
“To me, painting, it can’t just be painting exactly what you see,” she said. “For me, I see the beauty in enhancing the colors, getting the feeling of what the day was like, I like to have more feeling in the pieces.”
She continued, “People that draw and paint need to be inspired by the subject, usually it’s somewhere they connect to. I typically paint around here.”
Artwork planned for showcase in June
Miller has continued to sell her paintings, hoping to enhance the lives of her customers.
“They’re getting a part of my heart and soul in that painting, and a memory of a place or a moment in time that was important to me and them,” she said. “That makes me happy knowing that they have something on their wall that makes me happy.”
Miller, along with Westford artist Gail Flannery will be showcasing their works in “Places I Remember” at the Bolton Public Library on Thursday, June 2 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Paintings will be on display throughout June. Miller can be contacted through her website.
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