Porthkidney Beach 

John Miller painted Porthkidney Beach using oil on board, a conventional approach, yet one which yields a surprising result. The paint has been applied in blocks of color, with a wide brush or palette knife, to create a landscape stripped back to its bare minimum: sea, sky, and sand. Notice how the artist has handled the materiality of his medium, the smooth, almost tactile surface, which gives the image a tangible, physical presence. The dark blue, perhaps reminiscent of Yves Klein, is solid and imposing, yet, at the same time, the white of the sand shimmers with a quiet, reflective quality. Miller was trained in the methods of traditional landscape painting, yet he brought to it a sharp, pared-down aesthetic that feels very modern, and very much his own. By returning to the fundamentals of artistic creation – surface, pigment, and composition – he invites us to look beyond the image, and to appreciate the artistry of making itself.