Donny Finley

Growing up in the small town of Millerville, Alabama provided Donny Finley the source of subject matter for his artistic career. Initially known for painting the life he experienced in the rural American south in which he was raised, Finley's scope of material for subject matter has broadened over the years. Like the development of his subjects, Finley's painting technique has also evolved, leaving a sense of relationship between his subject matter and himself. Graduating with a business degree from Jacksonville State University, Finley took only one introductory art course; however, this was enough to spark a real desire to paint. In his junior year, he was able to sale a painting at an outdoor art show, prompting him to concentrate on painting for one year to see if he could make a living at it. By his senior year, he was paying all of his expenses from the sale of his art work. Finley has been a full time artist ever since. Painting mainly in watercolor, the "regional" art Finley creates transcends any ostensible specific time and space. His work proclaims its own excellence, earning him more than seventy awards, including the Larry Quackenbush Memorial Award from the American Watercolor Society in New York (1980) and the Walter Biggs Memorial Award from the National Academy of Design (1990) also in New York. In addition, Finley has been invited to participate in exhibitions at the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, Watercolor USA, and others. Maintaining a studio in Birmingham, Alabama, where he lives with his wife Janet and their three children, Finley's work can be found in museums and corporate collections nationwide, including a large collection at the Coca Cola Corporate Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Donny Finley Images:
Au Bois de Senteur
Blue Canopy
Fishing The Narrows
Fly Fisherman
The Jeweled Door