Dwain Kelley’s paintings and drawings have slowly but surely evolved from an early realism— landscapes, primarily — to works that retain that foundation but explore the shape, line, and color relationships in a more experimental direction.
Even in the simplest pen-and-ink line drawing, there is always movement and tension. Some pieces are carefully orchestrated while others start off spontaneous and then develop naturally. With the exception of black-and-white drawings, almost all are mixed-media, utilizing gouache, graphite, and prismacolor pencil, pastels, and ink. Dwain’s approach to both life and art is essentially optimistic, and he conveys that quite successfully in all his works.
Brandon Miller Group came to us for mesh construction banners for a new development, The Mercer. The Mercer is located in New Braunfels and will feature 42 single-level condos with shared community amenities, including a resort-style pool, entertaining bar & grills, covered lounge, yard games, and a dog park. The sales and marketing efforts are being handled by Brandon Miller Group, who requested 70 mesh banners installed on the fencing to brand the construction site.
Mesh construction banners are perfect for outdoor use because of the airflow able to get through the material. Other banners can whip around in the wind, causing damage, as well obstructing the design printed on the banner. Since the mesh allows air to flow through the banner, rather than fighting against it, it stays in place and stays visible.
We appreciate Brandon Miller Group for sending their business our way! If you are curious about The Mercer, you can visit their website, and if you are interested, they are now selling in New Braunfels, from the $200’s.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, I am a child of Mexican immigrants. From a young age, I’ve enjoyed creating art—weaving, watercolor, mixed media, and recently acrylic painting. Nonetheless, art had been a sideline to a lifelong career in public health and epidemiology. Now retired, time allows me to paint with purpose and passion.
The story of my parents’ journey to the US has been a point of pride among our family. I wrote a book about their journey from Mexico to Texas and our family’s early years in America. The book, published shortly after my mother’s death in 2019, was edited by a journalist friend. With me not being able to afford her professional services, she bartered her skills for a painting—the subject matter left to me. At the time, my thoughts were on my mother, her life, and our world as youngsters. Experiencing her loss conjured up her kitchen, her endless tasks making tortillas and foods of her native land, her traditional tools to grind the corn—molcajete, the vegetables from her garden, the Navidad tradition of making tamales, and her stove. So, I filled my canvas with these memories—the figure of a young woman doing the work, thereby producing joy in the form of flowers flowing from her skirt.
I’m not a professional painter, strictly amateur, still learning. Still, I was loathed to give up the painting, but a deal was a deal. I normally take a photo of my paintings using my iPhone for my beginning portfolio. But for this painting, I took it to Miller, specifically to Dana, to preserve it in the best image possible. I am grateful to Dana, who made sure that the colors, particularly, the red in the skirt was true to the original painting.
-Lucina Suarez
Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.
It is Miller Calendar time! This year we are printing two varieties of calendars in-house! We will have our annual Don Collins calendar for those who like the tradition, plus a new calendar that features all the incredible artists who we featured as our artists of the month throughout 2021!
We are excited to be doing something new with the calendar this year, and hope you share in the excitement!
Drop in the stores after December 1st to pick up your calendars, or place your order here!
Angel Chiasson has lived in Austin for most of her life since she was a freshman in high school. Her love of art showed up in early childhood where she would be found (to the shock of her parents) drawing on walls and the underside of tables. Angel would eventually corral that passion into a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art with a Teacher Certification from Southwest Texas State University (Texas State!). Angel taught art for many years in public schools and in her own private studio.
Angel paints a variety of subject matter and is very inspired by nature. Forefront in her art is bold, bright colors and patterns. “Playful art that makes people happy sounds simple, but it means so much to me when I hear from people that viewing and having my art in their home makes them feel happy. From experience, I know well that life can be hard and sometimes sad. I make this art to send out joy!”
“I love exploring new techniques and subject matter, but my love of color has always stayed true. Inspired by the “Fauve” Expressionist movement, I use bright colors and juxtapositions. To me, Color = Happy and I want to reflect the beauty and joy that can be found in this one great life.”
“I pick and choose certain original paintings to be scanned for prints by Dana. Because I use such bright saturated colors in my work, color-matching and clarity is important so that the happy exuberant feeling comes through. Dana has done an amazing job matching my originals and provided incredible professional prints that I can offer my collectors.”
Culture Based Interiors (CBI Group) is a leading commercial office interior provider in South Texas, with clients such as TJH Law, Logicmonitor, Caterpillar and HCA Healthcare.
CBI Group enlisted our services to add wow factor to their Austin showroom space and also add visual safety to their glass walls.
More and more companies are using glass partitions to create separate rooms without blocking light and visibility. This gives the feeling of one communal space, but gives individuals their own space and privacy for meetings, phone calls, etc.
As the use of glass walls has increased, so have the requests for vinyl applications by our team. We want to help with your space if you also have a need for improved visibility of glass walls. Many customers add their logo, mission statement, company motto, or decorative designs to their partitions to add visual interest and to personalize the wall or door. Reach out to CBI Group for any of your office furnishing needs, and learn more about them at www.cbi-office.com!
Joseph Valadez is from San Antonio. He went to the University of Texas at Arlington and graduated in 2018 with a Bachelors of Science in Information Systems. Joseph enjoys spending time in the small towns of New Braunfels and Gruene, Texas, where most of his family lives. He moved to Austin in late 2020 to start working as a Systems Analyst.
His time spent out of work consists of running, kayaking, camping, fishing, and many other outdoor activities where most of his inspiration arises. Joseph paints mainly with acrylic and watercolor while also exploring other types of art such as sculpting and ceramics. Joseph says that his most recent and invested painting started when he moved to Austin.
“Gruene Hall at Dusk” took approximately 150 hours, and was completed in March of 2021. “Gruene reminds me of a place where I have shared great times with friends and family. This piece was painted for my daughter which encouraged me to bring out my best work.”
“The prints that Miller IDS provided have portrayed every detail that my original painting has. Dana Burton has kept in direct contact with me during my process of scanning my artwork and made sure that I received the highest quality prints. Dana and her team make this process easy and stress free. I can trust Miller IDS with my artwork and I am looking forward to continuing working together.”
Texas Tiny Pools hosted their second annual tiny pool tour last weekend. Texas Tiny Pools was founded by our good friend Amy Hageman and her husband Tyler. They recognized the need for a pool in this crazy hot city we live in, and while not everyone needs or has space for a large pool, Amy and Tyler found a way to build a pool in the smallest of yards, so you can still take a dip to cool down. Amy and Erin Rapp, Tiny Pools’ Chief of Communications + Research, came to us to help print their collateral for the event, and she came with plenty of ideas! Here’s a run through of what we produced:
We printed multi-page brochures with a staple binding that acted as a guide to the event as well as a tour passport. At each location they stamped the brochure, and at the end of the tour, if you went to every pool, you got a prize! The brochure featured details on the pools including building materials, add-on features, and a rough cost of the pool.
We also printed h-stake yard signs to point visitors in the right direction in the neighborhoods, as well as yard signs that detailed the specificities of each pool on-site.
Amy wanted a large frame for a Tiny Pool photo-op, which we printed on coroplast, and cut on our iEcho router. Lastly, we printed design boards on coroplast so that clients choices could be shown together.
The event was a great success and we were glad to be a part of it! We love Amy and her company and their ability to create dream pools in a size anyone can manage!
“Ignoring the need to create something would be ignoring who I am at my core. I’ve always leaned toward picking up a pencil or a brush and seeing what happened next. Most of the time I am encouraged by what I make, but it’s always the feeling I have while creating that I return for. That feeling guides my artistic pursuits.”
Hunter Saltzgiver went to Azusa Pacific University and got a degree in fine art. Saltzgiver then taught K-8 Art in his hometown of Colorado Springs for 5 years before moving to Austin in 2016. Saltzgiver always planned on teaching art and never really planned on making his art into a business, but he said, “when you do something everyday that people enjoy, and you run out of wall space in your home, I guess that’s how it goes.”
Now, Saltzgiver does custom commission work on the side of his creative work. He paints animals (mainly dogs and bears) with acrylics, and he also forms relief landscapes with layered gesso that he calls ‘Whitescapes’.
“All of my bear paintings over the last 2 years I have gotten scanned through Miller IDS. These paintings have a lot of color variety, layers of contrasting colors, and I infrequently mute my paint making scans a tough thing to dial in. Dana, at the 7th St. location, has the critical eye to match nearly every scan I’ve thrown at her and those that haven’t she’s been easy to work with on making the adjustments. I keep going back to Miller for their professionality, their performance and their pricing.”
Feel free to reach out and inquire about pricing on Hunter’s creative work you see on Instagram, making a custom bear or ‘Whitescape’, or commissioning any of the common gifts like pet portraits and wedding gifts.
Waterloo Turf Co. brings 5+ years of local turf and installation knowledge to every project site they step foot on. With several hundred thousand square feet of turf installations under their belt, they know how to maximize your space and capture your perfect yard.
Waterloo Turf is held to the highest quality standard on the market backed by their manufacturer’s 15 year warranty. Every Waterloo Turf product is built to be safe and guaranteed to be lead-free, making it great for families, kids and pets. From general lawn replacements to pet systems, custom speed putting greens and playgrounds, Waterloo Turf has everything you need to create, envision and build your dream backyard!
We can print your business’ marketing collateral, not just your exhibit boards and business cards! We produce name tags, brochures, flyers, booklets, and more!
For Waterloo Turf, we produced and printed a variety of business collateral. We printed business cards, turf tags to identify samples, flyers, and a contour-cut (non-rectangular) foamcore sign for customers to be photographed with.
We really appreciate customers like Waterloo Turf reaching out for these supporting printed documents! What can we do for you?
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