Derrick was born in 1959 and grew up in North West London. Derrick loved drawing in pencil from a very young age and his teachers were wowed by his natural talent.

Derrick Lawrence Miller was raised in South East London, having lived in many different parts of the country during his life. Derrick found himself moving to Barnstaple in 2019.  Derek’s passion is Painting and in 2020, Derrick made the decision to start to make a living from his art. Derrick works in oils, acrylic, pastels, and pencil. 

As a troubled teenager he spent a lot of time in prison where his talent flourished taking on commissions from other prisoners, prison officers and even the governors! He painted portraits of their children, wives and girlfriends and his work got better and better.

In February 2019, whilst living in a bed sit with virtually no room to paint, he discovered Unit 6 Art Studios in Barnstaple where he was offered his own studio space and he hasn’t looked back since. “This place is a god send and I have thrived here”.

He is now building up a large volume of work in charcoal, pastel but predominantly in oil and is inspired in his newfound environment enjoying sharing ideas with the other Unit 6 artists. He is now planning to start painting landscapes and seascapes for his next projects.

“I just want to paint, if I can sell a painting or two, then that’s a bonus but I ask myself if I didn’t sell any would I still paint? Oh yes! I would carry on and paint”.

To contact Derrick you can call his mobile: (07493023836).

 His work is displayed in the Fleek Gallery, Ilfracombe. 

Derrick Lawrence Miller is at Unit 6 as part of the Fresh StART programme. Fresh StART is where Unit6 provides support for an artist who would benefit from a regular resident artist space. Derrick now spends most of his day painting in a studio space at Unit 6.  With an eager appetite for all things art, Derrick loves to learn about new artists and studies their techniques closely. 

Derrick Lawrence Miller enjoys listening to music when he paints especially Jazz. Nina Simone can often be heard as he paints. He often stops painting and picks up his guitar.