Myra Porter began painting in 2015, after running a successful Day Spa in South Miami for r decades. She studied law in the early nineties, passed the Florida Bar, deciding within six months that a legal career was not for her.

Myra considers herself an abstract expressionist, with a concentration thus far in abstracted landscapes. She enjoys finding shapes through reflection and studying her marks, as if the painting speaks to her through completion.

Landscapes are her main subject, specifically the views on her two-hundred-acre farm. Myra sometimes incorporates figures, or a suggestion of a figure in the landscape. Her pallets usually consist of greens, blues, yellows, and pops of white, pinks, and browns. Occasionally she favors orange and reds.

Myra began study for a Master of Fine Art at the University of Miami in the fall of 2018. Covid-19 put the brakes on that plan. By Spring 2020, classes were no longer in-person. The remote- Zoom only instruction prompted Myra to opt out of the University MFA program. Instead, she turned a nine hundred square foot space in her Day Spa into a large art studio. She hired a fellow UM M.F.A. student to teach her in person, as well as give her staff drawing and painting classes. Interested staff took free art classes while at work. A large collaboration canvas hung during staff meetings with marks from each staff member. These Collaborations became the salon’s focal artwork.

The Collaboration work that came from the Covid-19 period expanded Myra’s painting process to include painting with other artists at her farm, as well as with her beloved grandchildren. Myra particularly loves to have her grandchildren start a canvas and then she goes in and finds/finishes the painting. She believes young children are the best artistic tool: watching them go at it without fear or ego, as they enjoy the “no rules” process. One of Myra’s grandchildren, Joseph has been painting regularly with her since he turned one. Her nickname for him is Picasso.

Before her university study, Myra traveled abroad for painting retreats, where she learned that she enjoys painting alongside other artists. She has traveled extensively with her husband over the past thirty-five years, accumulating photos of beautiful scenery. Myra’s studies for paintings began with photographs from these trips abroad, including South Africa, Ireland, and Amsterdam. However, Myra finds that her favorite images are those of her Tennessee farm property. Reference photos from inspiring artists:  Van Gogh, Matisse, Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso, and Pissarro have shaped her style as well.