Born in Wheeler, Texas, Waid Griffin was trained in piano, voice, dance, and drawing from an early age. He holds a BFA in Painting with a Drawing Minor from Texas Tech University and a Master of Music in Theory and Composition from the Texas Tech School of Music. He worked as a graphics artist in the Anatomy Department of the Texas Tech Medical School for two years. He was commissioned to paint stage sets for the Texas Tech Dance Department and the Willis Ballet located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Waid currently maintains his art studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is an emeritus faculty member of the New Mexico Art League. He has taught studio art & music history and theory for Rio Grande Enrichment Studies Tutorial (2004-2018). Waid was named a “Local Treasure” in 2013, by the Albuquerque Business in Art Association. His paintings have received numerous awards, and his paintings are held in numerous public and private collections including the permanent collections of McGraw-Hill Publishers, NY; the State of New Mexico; River Valley Ranch, Carbondale, CO; the Albuquerque International Sunport.
Artist Statement
When I moved to Albuquerque in 1987, I focused on painting landscapes. Nature is and has always been my “take off” point. In the early 1990s, my paintings were more reliant on photography, executed in a tighter style. The skill set and subject matter of my work has changed, and continues to do so, especially through the practice of plein air painting! Recently I have concentrated on unifying my paintings with the tools of design and the elements of composition to control the eye of the viewer as it explores the surface and moves into the “space” of the image. 
I am also returning to the watercolor medium and figurative subjects. Good drawing remains always primary for me, along with reliance on the traditional techniques of the craft of picture making.
I view my work as “expressively biographical” in the choice of subjects and the presentation. The concept or “idea” in a work of art is everything. It drives every aspect of the work. I embrace all approaches to art making, but I identify with “classicism”, though I’m not a conventionalist.
