She Blends Painting, Social Media

You’ll find Debbie Miller painting a new picture and selling it online just about every day. She mixes her artistic and social media talent.

The Barrington artist was not the first painter to use the Internet to peddle her work, which she describes as contemporary fine art.

“But I think I was among the early users,” said Miller, who soon discovered a whole new community of artists out there.

Miller is an active member of dailypainters.com, a website on which she posts a painting each day for collectors and other people to browse.  She also posts photos of her paintings to her own blog: debbiemillerpainting.blogspot.com. And she has pages on Facebook and loves Twitter.

“I can reach out to a broader audience online,” said Miller. “And it’s fun."

Miller works out of a small studio in the 30 Cutler St. mill in Warren. The Rhode Island School of Design graduate got back into painting full time in the basement of her home in the Primrose Hill part of town after being a full-time mom to three sons, now 17, 15, and 13, for many years.

She is married to “kind of her high-school sweetheart” – Charlie “Chip” Miller, who heads the Barrington Pop Warner organization.

“I decided that painting is what I really wanted to do full time,” she said.

Miller did some painting on commission and more as a hobby until a few years ago. Now she paints daily and teaches art to the kindergarteners at Red Brick School one day a week.

“I don’t want for inspiration,” said Miller. “And I'm a prolific artist. I paint very fast."

Miller said she considers herself part of the school of painters who will start a painting and not stop until it is finished.

“I try to put out a new painting each day,” she said.

Miller said that using the Internet to sell her work also allows buyers to create a relationship with her that doesn’t happen with someone who buys one of her paintings from the Donovan Gallery in Tiverton or the Beth Urdang Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston.

“They learn the artist behind the art,” she said.

You can meet Miller and see her work in her studio this Saturday, Dec. 10. She is holding her first-ever open house from 12 to 6 pm along with several other artists in the Cutler Street mill.

In the meantime, go to Miller’s blog to see her work – especially if you like the beach, cupcakes and portraits. Her beach Santas make great Christmas decorations.