Steve Burgess

Steve is self taught using mainly oils and is rapidly becoming known as one of the top wildlife painters in the world, he is also recognized as one of the worlds leading aviation artists, having painted many commissioned pieces for both the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Since 1995 Steve has concentrated more and more on painting the natural world in it's infinite diversity. Steve says, 'My inspiration comes from the places I have traveled and the animals and landscapes around them. I like to try to paint scenes that can awaken something that is seemingly familiar within the viewer. If you can paint a scene accurately, the viewer who has experienced the same thing will say 'that's just how I remember it.'
Steve feels that there is nothing like seeing the animals he paints 'for real,' up close and personal, in places like the plains of Africa, and he tries to make at least one visit a year to that vast continent, to experience some of the world's best wildlife viewing. 

Steve has not always been a professional artist, in 1980 he joined the Royal Air Force as a photographer. The training he received was comprehensive in every photographic discipline, and this was to prove invaluable in future years, enabling him to capture photographic reference material to a professional standard, complementing any 'in situ' sketching and painting. In 1986 Steve left the Royal air Force and became a police officer with the Avon & Somerset Constabulary in the west of England, where he served for some 8 years, until deciding that it was now or never, and gave up police work with it's inherent job security, for the life of an artist with no guarantees! Happily, as it turned out, this was the right decision on Steve's part, as his art career has gone from strength to strength, taking part in many major exhibitions in the UK and the USA. 

Steve's thoughts are never far from Africa and his Masai friends out there, who have bestowed upon him the honour of a Masai name 'OLAISHORANI' which means one who paints and draws pictures. For now, Steve will continue to strive to make his current painting the best he has ever done, and his advice to anyone interested in painting wildlife? 'Look at each animal as though you may never see it again!'