Welcome to My Studio

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I am Burke Wilford, and my studio is my sanctum. It is the place where I think, create, and work.  My medium is oil painting, which I took up as a pastime over ten years ago, never knowing that it would change my life.  The journey as an artist leads down many varied avenues of discovery and I want you to feel free to join me while I explore all aspects of art creation, and hopefully encourage you to take up painting as well.

Some of the blogs will be about sources of inspiration and the process of creation, while others will be my thoughts about current trends and exhibitions I have visited.  My hope is to start a dialogue that encourages your comments and questions.

Humble Beginnings

I was fortunate in having an upbringing which encouraged the children in my family to practice drawing and painting.  As soon as we could hold a crayon or pencil, our mother always had art supplies on hand to use.  She also enrolled us in after school art classes as early as first grade, which I still vividly remember to this day. I was so excited to paint my favorite things like trains and taking them home to show my parents that evening.  

We were fortunate as a family to have grown up in the lived in the Washington, D.C. area. The meant that we had access to wonderful museums, galleries and other cultural events. As a family we often made frequent trips to museums. Even our elementary school made annual trips to the National Gallery of Art.  At an early age I was exposed to and find comfort in creating art, which made it easy, as an adult, to without hesitation, fearlessly and energetically dive into painting oil on canvas.