Kevin Burrill in his studio
Kevin Scott Burrill’s creative energy fills his studio and threatens to simply burst out of him. In addition to painting wildlife and landscapes, he writes poetry, has tried writing novels, plays the cello and provides the music at his church.
“I’ve got irons in a lot of different fires. I can’t help it. It’s just always going on in my head, and if I don’t let it out, I’ll explode. The art seems to be a deep one. Other creative endeavors I’ve tried seem to be more temporary flashes in the pan. They come and go. This one I could do all day every day for the rest of my life,” he says.
His interest in art started when he was a child and watched his uncle paint.
“I had an uncle who was an artist. When I was a kid, I used to sit and stare at his paintings and think it would be so cool to do that. But I never talked to him about it or got any lessons or anything.
“I’ve always resonated with art in art class and always kind of connected with my art teachers who often saw something there and would encourage me, but I never really took it seriously. I think part of the problem was I wanted it to be perfect without all the hard work, so I expected to do two or three paintings and then figure it all out. So, I would get frustrated and put all the paints away and only paint once or twice a year,” he says.
He got serious about his art in 2019 and then COVID-19 came. During the shutdown, he was able to put the time in to study different materials and techniques which opened a world of possibilities. It’s also when he switched from acrylic to oil.
He thinks the extended drying time of the oil paint helped encourage him. Oil remains wet longer than acrylics, so you can make changes – even several days later.
“That made the biggest difference, because I found myself able to correct things that weren’t quite right with the oils. Oils helped me get past some barriers and some hurdles, and now that I’m comfortable with the oils I think I understand things better and am considering going back to acrylics,” Burrill says.
Burrill grew up in Canada in the North Woods and spent his time fly fishing, canoeing, hunting and enjoying the outdoors. This sheds light on why he’s inspired by nature.
“I think everybody needs to spend more time in a forest. I know not everybody loves it, but for me, it’s critical for my own well-being. I feel my stress melt away when I’m in the woods,” he says.
Burrill not only spends time in the woods, he also paints on wood – an idea he got from watching “Portrait Artist of the Year” and “Landscape Artist of the Year,” British television shows.
“One of the things I was looking for was how did the judges look at art. I was trying to learn about how other people perceive art why do some people not like realism. I learned a lot about one guy who was painting these very formal portraits on these rough pieces of wood. His goal was to contrast something very formal and distinguished on basically reclaimed trash that he found from somebody’s renovation project or sheet metal. I thought I am doing the opposite. I’m painting rustic wildlife in a forest scene on this perfectly primed and trimmed edged canvas and putting them in these nice formal fancy frames. I’m almost creating a counterpoint the opposite way. I’m painting something rough and untamed on a very tamed surface, and he’s painting something very dignified and regal on the surface I should be using. So, I decided to steal that idea because it fits my art,” Burrill says.
He likes the way the texture of the wood can enhance portions of the painting (such as tree bark), but he also learned that it could detract from other portions (such as facial features).
One of his influences is Robert Bateman, a Canadian wildlife artist. Bateman not only inspires his work, but his goal for the future – wildlife conservation. Burrill is currently working on a painting of red wolves, an endangered species, which he’s going to donate to the Red Wolf Coalition to use in a fundraiser. A particular interest is how animals are adapting or not adapting to urban spaces.
He enjoys working in his studio at The Arts Depot because he learns from the other artists and meets people from lots of places.
“If I was still painting at home, I’d never meet these people, and I’d have all this art hanging around, with my wife asking, ‘Are you going to dust that?’ One of the missions or visions of The Arts Depot is to help launch emerging artists, and I would put myself in that category. I don’t think I would really have a shot at doing it as a career, if I weren’t based here. It helps get me through those first few stages. There’s so much competition in the art world and that’s why being in a place like this where you have regular foot traffic is important,” Burrill says.
To see more of Burrill’s art, visit www.kevinsburrillwildlifeart.com.
