"I have long loved classical art and have many books on scientific renderings from the 19th century as well as the collected works of various artists. Finding beauty – and more importantly spontaneity within the realism of studied subjects is my personal challenge. My paintings, but especially my murals are often filled with hidden insects or other surprises. I love working within partitions, and love to tackle paneled surfaces; creating scenes seen through frames of the paneling, much like classical diptychs and triptychs from ancient and classical religious works. Everything seems....“precious."
By careful study of nature and leaning on basic drawing foundation skills, every drawing and painting is a new exercise. I always do sketches by hand over and over until I am confident in my proportions and composition, whether my subject matter is portrait, object or landscape. Only once my drawing has been established, do I open up and allow myself the freedom to build marks and color, in paint or graphite.
My technique, as I get older, seems to grow. I am not satisfied by “doing one thing and doing it well.” But each style feeds the other. My mural work is the total opposite technique to working in watercolor, both by sheer size - and application of paint; with watercolor you generally work from light to dark, while in acrylic/latex (or oil) you work from dark to light.
But everything for me comes back to drawing.....I love to draw, to problem solve, to move objects and subjects within the scene – as I am often called to do for portrait work – and remake them into a new reality. Drawing is cathartic. When I draw, I feel my fingertips are moving across the object, into the scene and wrapping around my subject. Drawing makes me whole."
--Paige Miglio
Paige Miglio finds the beauty in all defining aspects of the world around her. It is as if she scoops up what she sees, places it in her heart where her love envelopes it allowing the magic to form and begin to flow down her arm to her fingers...she states it quite eloquently '...I feel my fingertips are moving across the object, into the scene and wrapping around my subject...," a precious moment, a precious gift that has been given to us.
"A Day At The Beach" - watercolor by Paige Miglio
Each piece captures the essence of her subject. When viewing one can see the glint in the eye of the toddler as she looks back over her shoulder, the determination in another as he/she is making their way to get water, or digging in the sand, feel the contentment as the cats "sunbathe" in the window,
"The Sunbathers" - watercolor by Paige Miglio
one can hear the motion of the water as the waves hit the surf listening to the foam dissipate, and see the light from the moon dancing on each wave as each wave races to the shore,
"Moonscape" - watercolors by Paige Miglio
or feel the mist from the fog spray your face as you picture yourself standing on the deck of the boat while it is moored due to the fog all the while hearing the water lapping against the side of it.
"Fog II" - watercolor by Paige Miglio
Paige thoroughly enjoys life! She teaches each of us a lesson every time we speak with her, see her finished work or even watch as she paints a mural on the side of a building as she did on "The Bridgehouse Restaurant" alongside Bill Meddick. She teaches us that we should take the time to see the beauty and grace of what has been given to us and we take for granted each day....the smell of coffee brewing first thing in the morning, the sun peering through a window from the east as it rises showing us another gorgeous day is about to begin; even the cloudy rainy days are full of wonderment, the snow as it gently, quietly falls blanketing the earth creating such a silence you begin to whisper when you speak. You can even find wonderment in the material things such as the car that cut you off...the design of it, the mechanics of it, and yes even the driver for he/she is truly a work of art....
But Paige has natural abilities which she is able to hone in on each "object" finding the precious wonderment, the lustre of what makes everything surrounding us full of life...We have been blessed with a precious gift.
Paige Miglio will be exhibiting at SoBoBo Gallery for the month of February. Come see those precious gifts! The opening reception for Paige in Thursday, February 2nd from 7 pm to 9 pm.
It is also the First Art Stroll of 2012! Visit Firehouse Gallery first from 6 pm to 8 pm and meet the artists who submitted their work for the juried show/exhibit "Still Life."
SoBoBo Gallery is located at 42 Naugatuck Avenue, Walnut Beach in Milford, Connecticut.
"The Way to Eagle Peak" - Photograph by D'Antonia
"Audience with God" - Photograph by D'Antonia
"CJ's Journey" - Photograph by D'Antonia
