Daughter of an American diplomat in Seoul, Korea, Miller trained as an artist in Japan under Shimada Bokusen, later attending Vassar College in the United States. Unlike most other artists in her genre, Miller saw Japanese-style painting and printmaking as her first mode of artistic expression. She carved and printed her own work, choosing exclusively Asian subjects, such as this winter landscape. The emphasis on the peak and roof portion of a temple surrounded by a high snow bank suggests that Miller may have been inspired by Hokusai's temple roof poking through snowy white clouds, one of the prints in the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.