Millie Simic

Written By Angela Hoskins

Art Trail 2025, Coochiemudlo Island

 

Big Sky by Millie Simic

Early Morning Kayak by Millie Simic

Vase of Roses, painting by Millie Simic

Vase of Roses by Millie Simic

Although I paint in a few mediums, the process is somewhat the same. Plein air was the preferred setting for many years but as time has gone on, I’ve opted for studio painting.

I often go for walks around the island I live on and take photos of parts of the landscape that strike me as beautiful, majestic or soul stirring, sometimes a friend will share a photo that is particularly beautiful and ask if I can use the photo for a painting. This is the beginning of my work and very important.

Next, I choose a medium that I think will portray the landscape to its fullest potential. This could be soft pastel, watercolour, oil paint or acrylic paints.

I then concentrate on colour choices (my work isn’t always true to the landscapes palette), composition/design and feelings towards the subject. Underpainting colours are chosen before I decide on the topcoat or, completed look of the artwork. Size of the painting is a big factor as well, sometimes a two-metre painting is very dynamic and will show off the subject perfectly and sometimes a small painting can tell the whole story perfectly too. When using pastel, I’m a bit restricted in size. But canvases can reach 3 to 4 metres if that’s what I would like.

The actual painting process is both left and right brain, in that, at times I’m thinking of colour combinations and how light is depicted, I must make sure the composition isn’t awkward and then the good part is working intuitively and allowing the muse to take over. I never really know how a painting will eventually evolve and that’s very exciting. Photos can be copied but using your artistic skill and knowledge and allowing ‘something’ unique to evolve is, in my opinion, much better.

After the work is completed, I ‘sit’ with the work for about a week, just to make sure there are no adjustments needed.

Meet Millie and see her work at:

Studio #5, 1 Shirley Street

 
Angela Hoskins

Built my first site in 2000 and steadily learned what it takes to make websites work. Dabbled in WordPress back then, still do. Since building my first Squarespace site in 2016, I’ve been impressed with the relatively streamlined approach to website design and development that Squarespace offers compared to WordPress. SEO was a major challenge from the start — I’ve spent a lot of time keeping up with what’s required to get sites working, ranking well on a SERP. I have confidence with what Squarespace offers for SEO.

Having worked for more than 10 years in the web team of an inland, regional university in Australia and dealing with frustrations that come with working for a large corporate enterprise, the idea of setting up my own web design business became my goal.

Set up my business in late 2017. Opted for a sea change, too: I now live on Coochiemudlo Island 45 minutes from Brisbane. Love working from home. Love working for small business clients. Still get casual work with the university.

Challenges? The main one is pricing my work for small businesses. Doing quality work, doing the research to be up to date in the industry, takes time; it’s hard to factor in this time to my pricing while being competitive in the market and affordable for many small businesses.

https://sitecontent.com.au
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