Wildlife artist Millie Carrée
Born and raised on an isolated homestead in Northeastern Wyoming state, USA, the world of animals and all nature were the main love in my young life. Beginning to draw and to write before I started school, my mother played a huge part in bringing the love of art into my life. Untrained herself, she was excellent at drawing animals - patiently showing just a bit more each time I tried; how to bring a drawing to life. No paints, just pencil and paper.
My career as a Professional artist didn’t start until many years later. My husband and I had moved to Colorado state by then, with the majestic Rocky Mountains on our doorstep. A gift of a small oil painting set from him, was the beginning of a hunger to put these views, and the animals that lived there, to canvas.
Initially I took no lessons, relying on my past and present love of wildlife and the outdoors. However, encouragement and guidance from a friend who was a natural artist herself was of the greatest help. Her mother had been a Professor of Fine Art at The University of Texas in Austin. Later I decided to take classes in fine art from well known artist Chuck Ceraso at The Denver Art Museum.
Oil painting is my main choice of medium; having started and learned the flow of color from the oils; watercolor does find it’s way into my work - a different, interesting medium. Landscapes came first, but I found them empty without living creatures in them. So taking an old page from my past, I gingerly started adding animals to my works. The paintings became empty without them. To me, the world of wildlife takes us to the primitive and away from the hectic world we live in. All the beasts of the world keep us in touch with wonders we can only dream of; a world of serenity or savagery, but always constant - even in a crowded inner city.
With the onset of the Internet, a friend encouraged me to start a web site for my art. This was ten years ago. Now people from around the world have become friends in art. My work has found it’s way to far away places it never would have in the past. Jamaica, Australia, Scotland, and here in the states - Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska and more. I hope you enjoy the four paintings here that John has graciously put on his Artist’s Showcase.
Millie
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Mojave Desert
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