Miranda grew up in a small desert town in central Oregon. She spent her time with the animals, covered in dust and views as far as the eye could see.

These wide open spaces and calm, lonesome energy still influence her artwork today. She began painting in 2020 after closing her massage practice and moving from Oregon to New York with her husband for his job. She longed to feel a sense of home back west, so she began to paint the scenes she missed most.

In 2021 she went back to Oregon to be the sole caregiver for her dad while he was on hospice. After his passing her artwork served a whole new purpose of helping her heal and navigate grief.

She is a self taught landscape painter, first navigating watercolor, then moving to work with acrylic, and oil mediums. Her skills and love for painting grew with each passing day, and her confidence in showing her work allowed her to start participating in local art shows and sharing her artwork with her community.

She began selling her work online and at markets in 2022 and has garnered collectors around the country. Her work has been exhibited at The Sun and Dust Gallery, High Noon General Store, and The Redlands Art Association.

Miranda is currently creating work from her home studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

My work is as expansive and serene as the scenes that inspire it. A reverence for wide open spaces and stillness in the desert, my hope is to inspire viewers to pause, and be in the moment. Mother nature is my greatest inspiration with sunrises, cloud formations, and the moon sitting high in the sky. My time in the desert has always been a place of peace and quiet contemplation, I use my studio time in a similar way. My work is a reflection of the lonesome solitude that is felt in the west, where some see desolation, I see an oasis of possibilities.

Tillage Podcast Guest

Miranda shares her story of consistent art making on the Tillage Podcast.

Bullet point version, whats your artistic journey?

Well, I’ve always been a creative person, enjoyed being “artsy” but I worked as a massage therapist for nearly 15 years and running my own business took a lot of time, so I didn’t develop my art skills until I closed my practice in 2020 due to the pandemic.

• June 2020 started using the procreate app on an Ipad I stole from my husband - I was doing a lot of tracing and drawing fan art of the Portland Trailblazers. I had just moved to Long Island, NY for my husbands job and it was a weird time.

• By December My dad was on hospice and I went back to the Oregon desert and took care of him, I brought my watercolors and was doing a little painting during that time. He passed in February 2021 and I was (understandably) in a griefy weird space for awhile. I was back in New York feeling a bit directionless. So in April I started a 100 day drawing/painting project. Thats when I noticed a real desire to make art consistently and I saw growth over the 100 days. I was hooked.

• December 2021 we moved to southern California and on a whim I signed up for a Holiday market, I decided I needed to have some tree ornaments for sale, so I tried making some with watercolor and it wasn’t turning out well, so I got some acrylic paint and that changed the trajectory of my art.

• January 2022 to present I have been working with acrylics painting landscapes that inspire me. Mostly wide open spaces and interesting compositions from desert wanderings and palm reading sessions.

• December 2023 I’m currently living in Santa Fe, New Mexico and am a vendor at the Railyard Artisan Market and have had my work shown at The Sun & Dust Gallery on Canyon Road, as well as High Noon General Store and Baked and Brew coffee shop.

  I look forward to painting more and sharing my work for years to come.