Waid creates abstract worlds saturated with color, filled with rhythm and movement, and intricately textured. His canvases barely contain the imagined landscape painted upon them; lush with growth they invite the viewer to explore the space. Of his latest works, Waid says, "These recent paintings are the result of a decades long dialog with nature and the expressive possibilities of paint. These paintings are portals for the mind to travel.

Jim Waid is considered one of Arizona’s most celebrated painters and is included in the public collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, NM; Palm Springs Desert Museum; Tucson Museum of Art; Phoenix Art Museum; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; Arizona State University Art Museum; Indiana University Art Museum in Bloomington, as well as numerous other museums and corporations. Waid is an alum of the University of New Mexico (BFA) and the University of Arizona (MFA). He currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.