Patricia J Finley

Patricia J Finley, abstract artist from Arizona and now based in Denver, Colorado.

Artist statement:

I was born long ago and far away on a distant planet called Iowa. I had the great good fortune to be raised on a small farm, complete with my own pony. It was an idyllic childhood.

I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. It never occurred to me that Art was among the available choices. I knew no artists and had never had an art course of any sort as a child. Consequently, it never occurred to me that I had artistic talent or abilities.

I moved to Arizona for college and stayed 25 years. On a whim after graduating, I took the LSAT. From the results, it was clear the Universe thought that I should go to law school. So, I did. After graduating from law school, I became a trial lawyer and opened my own law office. I got married. I had the expected 2.0 children. All was calm. All was well. Then the Universe decided it was time for a change.

My law partner-husband became ill. We retired from the law and moved to our cabin in Southwest Colorado. To keep busy, I founded a youth substance abuse prevention non-profit making organization and became its Development Director. My children grew up and went away to college. My husband recovered from his illness. Our marriage ended. I was at loose ends.

I moved to the bright lights and big city of Denver. Initially, I thought I would practice law for a bit extra money while figuring out my next steps. However, my fond memories of practicing law in Phoenix were just that, memories of the past. I no longer enjoyed practicing law.

The answer to the question “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” to my amazement was Art. This was a bit of a shock to me for I had never had an art class. My entire art “training” up to that point consisted of years of creating collages thanks to the good offices of a professional artist friend who became my art mentor.

In 2008, my art mentor announced that my art was good enough to sell. Despite my cynicism, I decided to test the waters. My first art show was the Summer Art Market of the Art Students League of Denver. To my joy and surprise, I sold 13 pieces. I decided to take the ball and run with it. I began to create in earnest. Eventually, I began to experiment with different mediums. Once I had added paint and pigment to resin and created with the resulting colored resin, I knew I had found “my” medium. The results were stunning. I was hooked on resin.

Resin’s unique properties and the challenges of creating with liquid intrigued me. My style radically changed to take advantage of resin’s flowing movement. From the graphic lines and circles of my last collages, my new mantra became “go with the flow”. The result was arrested movement and jewel-like depths. I’ve been creating in resin ever since.

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