Miller’s first color medium was oil, but in 1938 he felt his ability had progressed to the point he could take on the more challenging watercolor medium. By 1958, interest in his work had grown to such a level he opened a gallery at his home. A fellowship in 1965 at the Huntington-Hartford Foundation in Pacific Palisades, California, provided Miller the opportunity to begin experimenting with the egg tempera medium. Ever since, he chose to work with egg tempera for large paintings, though he continued work in drawing and watercolor for smaller works. His art celebrates the current and past beauty of his beloved Door County, the major theme of his imaginative realism.
Since the late 1940’s, his travel abroad provided him with a new and rich variety of subject matter and inspiration. Some of his travels included trips to Central America, Africa, India, and Europe, where he did extensive study and large body of work of castles.
Miller was a regular exhibitor and recipient of awards in national watercolor exhibits since the early 1950’s: Certificate of Merit from the Whitney and Museum of Modern Art, New York (1962). He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humanities by the Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the prestigious American Watercolor Society, Audubon Society (since 1949), the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, and Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors.
In 1975, along with his wife, Ruth, he founded the Miller Art Center in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, (now the Miller Art Museum) where over 100 of his works are housed and exhibited on a rotating basis.
