Murfreesboro artist Mary Miller Veazie has been perfecting her paintings for over a decade.

Veazie majored in art during her time at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, but didn’t put her degree to much use until after having her children.

“I think that brought the creativity out of me,” Veazie said.

She then began taking oil painting classes in California because she wanted to become a portrait artist. Veazie moved to Murfreesboro 16 years ago, where she decided to pursue art professionally.

“Painting portraits was wonderful, but you don’t want to do the same thing all the time,” she said.

In order to diversify her work, Veazie became acquainted with an abstract painting organization in Nashville called the Contemporary Collective. Millie Jarrett, the instructor of the group, invigorated Veazie’s desire to learn more about art.

“I think it’s important to take classes and keep your education fresh,” Veazie explained. “You always want to find an artist you admire.”

Jarrett showed Veazie that a painting didn’t just have to be a replication of a photograph but a portrayal of one’s emotions.

After her classes, Veazie was able to apply abstract techniques in representative paintings.

“It’s allowed me more freedom in how I apply paint,” Veazie said. “I have much more of an emotional involvement with the canvas since I started painting with the Contemporary Collective.”

Recently, Veazie has created many winter-themed animal paintings. She said she gained inspiration for these series after being commissioned to create paintings of farm animals.

“I thought, ‘[These] would make a really good Christmas prints.’”

She transformed the farm animals into holiday art by adding elements such as jingle bells to the ears of a cow rather than a tag. Veazie has created two years worth of farm animal prints and is now producing woodland animal prints.

Veazie is also involved in local art groups such as the Stones River Art Association and the Murfreesboro Art League. With the league, she has taught several classes and workshops.

Veazie said that through these groups and events such as the Murfreesboro Art Crawl, Murfreesboro has shown itself to be extremely supportive of the art community.

“I’ve never been in a town that was so heavily involved in the arts,” Veazie said. “I think we have more in this area than anywhere else in Tennessee.”

Among her other 2019 ventures, Veazie will be the featured artist at the 15th annual Lipscomb Academy Art Event from Feb. 8–10. Lipscomb Academy, a private school connected with Nashville’s Lipscomb University, holds an art show with dozens of local artists every year. Each artist brings many of their paintings to display and sell, with a percentage of the proceeds going to Lipscomb Academy. One artist is featured every year, and Veazie was chosen for the 2019 event.

“I was honored to be chosen,” Veazie said. “To get into the show is rather difficult because they only take career artists.”

Veazie’s art can be found and purchased online at mmveazie.com and in store at the Peddler Interiors & Gifts (1756 W. Northfield Blvd.), The Marketplace (107 S. Church St.) and Studio S Pottery (1426 Avon Rd.) in Murfreesboro as well as at Bennett Galleries in Nashville.