Thomas Andrew Findlay was born in Miami, Florida in 1967 but moved to Mountain Brook, Alabama at age 8 when his parents divorced. He is the middle of three sons and attended Auburn University where he studied computer graphics. After graduation, Tom moved to South Carolina to become the Art Director for Conso Products International. In 1996, he moved back to Alabama to be with his mother who was dying of cancer. Shortly after her death, Tom Started publishing a magazine focused on pets and pet owners. He then launched a radio show named “Pet Talk” and a retail store that sold pet related merchandise. Tom sold his businesses in 1998 and launched an Internet search engine targeted to small retailers. When the dot com bubble imploded, Tom decided to pursue his love of painting. He is a natural born illustrator but a self-taught painter. Starting with portraiture, Tom quickly realized his fascination with the human composition. He then created a body of work based on the female figure that appeared dramatic yet angelic. Tom quickly became known for his “angel” paintings, and in 2007, a company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana started licensing and distributing his figurative reproductions worldwide.
In 2007, Tom also started creating images based on the American landscape. While in his 20’s and 30’s, he spent much time at his family’s home in Colorado. It was an impressionable time for him and thus, the landscape of the West is a large influence on his subject matter. Moreover, while traveling through the United States later that year, he was inspired to create his highly collected “Somewhere in Time” series. Tom says this about the artwork: “I had just visited friends in Canada when the inspiration hit me. As I drove home, I noticed that each state was peppered with beautiful old barn houses set way off in the distance. These were homes at one time in our history. Their simple silhouettes gave me a haunting sense of serenity. Now old and forgotten, these structures seem lost in time.”
Furthermore, Tom’s artwork has been collected by patrons and corporations throughout the world. His style is visually unique as he blends acrylics, oil stains, inks and pastes onto wooden panels with a combination of palette knife and brush. His canvases are rich in paint and texture, and each piece is finished in a tinted oil varnish. Tom says this about his work: “I am a true colorist at heart. I love color – or the lack of color – because it can conjure deep emotions. I am inspired by it and I hope to inspire with it. The color of a painting is far more important to me than the complexity of the image.”