since earliest childhood. They began selling when he was eight and a dream took root that he has lived to this day. He was awarded his first "best of show" at thirteen.
For Burleigh, painting is second nature. He works with intuitive spontaneity, his creations free as
his life. His methods are his own, colors of choice Winsor Newton, paper, Arches rough and
his brushes aquarelles, large and flat. Working full sheets, he applies liberal washes, unmixed,
in varying layers with little regard for consequence. As images emerge he studies the
chaos, chooses and captures, likening the process to "hunting with a sword." While his techniques
skirt the normal boundaries of representation, the images produced are often so real as to defy
explanation. Burleigh offers none, acceptance the key. These haunting creations may be viewed
effectively from any distance.
Early years roaming the woods with his grandfather, herbalist and the Burleigh namesake, made him
most at home out of doors and that is where he generally works, the world his studio. Identification
with nature has freed him from process. In harmonizing with the elements he lets fate work his
paper, his role the medium, "trust it to happen and then let it be."
His formal education in psychology, Burleigh sees art and the world's ways from similar perspectives. This strongly influences his presentations, enticing people to see with open eyes, disregarding
conventions against life's extremes. Sometimes his work is skewed, frequently
muted, rarely consistent, and never static. Its forms do not rest and his images move with a life that
is in them, demanding to be seen.
The man and his work are one and the same, his philosophy reflected in both. Love. Be happy. Do
your best and get on with it.