If you had suggested to Miriam Esteve when she was an undergraduate that she would one day display her paintings at art fairs across Florida, she might have scoffed. She studied Applied Mathematics at Harvard and reports doing well in all her classes except music and art.
With an MBA from Columbia University in her pocket, she embarked on a career in global banking. But the long hours and high stress were taxing so, at the age of 45, she got out. She started taking classes in search of a pathway for the next phase of her life. At first, she pursued writing but quickly realized it was not a good fit, so she signed up for an art class.
“Art surprised me,” she says. “My first paintings were really bad,” she self-critiques. “But I was enthralled with the process. I fell in love with the idea of doing something I wasn’t good at and being completely okay with that. My whole life I had been a perfectionist, and a competitive one, and I found painting to be truly relaxing.”
Not surprisingly, given her background, Miriam applied herself and worked hard at improving her craft. Over the course of ten years, she took numerous classes and painted nearly every day.
People who saw her paintings would complement them and ask about acquiring one. She gifted many of her pieces to friends.
And then, in 2021, she was invited to set up an exhibit at Artisan Cafe. “That was a breakthrough,” she reflects. “People began buying my pieces, and that gave me a different kind of rush, seeing the way they reacted to my work.”
Miriam’s paintings are joyful and vibrant, with bold brush strokes and bright colors. Her themes include sailing, fishing, Key Biscayne landscapes, and compositions derived from time spent in New York and around the world.
For exercise, she takes long walks. When something catches her eye—a joyful scene, an interesting geometric shape, or anything that makes her happy—she stops to photograph it from numerous angles. Later, at home, she studies the photos and chooses a focus, deciding which details to include and which would distract. There is a lot of sketching involved.
Almost all of her paintings are narrative, and she likens the process of composing a painting to problem-solving. “It’s like a puzzle. You have to know the rules of composition and color to get the story across while still creating something that is pleasing to the eye.”
She shares insights gleaned from years of classwork and practice. “A well-prepared painting is much more likely to succeed. The design stage is important, and it takes time. You have to step away from your work and then come back to it because you kind of go blind after looking at it for too long.”
Miriam is of Cuban descent but spent most of her growing-up years in Venezuela. Her parents, Hector and Miriam Esteve, moved to Key Biscayne around the time she graduated from college. She and her husband, Gary Schermerhorn, were married on the island and then moved here permanently 12 years ago. They are the parents of three grown sons.
A few weeks ago, matted and framed prints of two of Miriam’s sailing paintings were presented to the winners of a prestigious youth sailing regatta hosted by the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. The winners were delighted to receive the art, and a number asked to have their photo taken with the artist.
Miriam shared their joy. “For me, the occasion was very moving and sweet. When I paint, I look for happy scenes. So it was rewarding to see the kids’ happy faces as they picked up and admired their awards.”
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