Interview with Thomas Finley, para-painter of Sasquatch and beyond
by Jeffery Pritchett, examiner.comJuly 14th 2012
When I first came across Thomas Finley's artwork it automatically beamed in my head that I had to interview him. Then the images of the slideshow appeared and I knew I had to showcase his art for an interview here. So I contacted him and found out he had just listened to one of my shows on Mothman with Andy Colvin, Mothman photographer at The Church of Mabus radio show. How weird and cool is that? He was painting mothman to my show. So it was meant to be obviously and universally inspired. Alot of his art focuses on the mystical Sasquatch but he also does other art like aliens and other paranormal personalities. I have deemed him the para-painter with the highest esteem. I hope you enjoy his art and down to earth personality like I have. I am from Georgia and so is he but he managed to make his way to England. A Georgian in England painting paranormal personalities! Unique indeed. Presenting..
1. Could you tell us about how you initially got interested in Bigfoot and the paranormal type creatures that lead to your creations of painting them?
Thomas Finley: Great question. I first became interested in Bigfoot way back in 1968, I was 8 years old at the time and my family attended the Olmsted County Fair in Rochester, Minnesota, and there on the midway my older brother and I came across this weird sideshow which had this strange man-beast frozen in a block of ice in a special trailer. This exhibit is infamously known as the "Minnesota Iceman". And it completely changed my take on world and that things could be alive alongside us. I still think to this day that that creature in the ice was the real deal. It still gives me goose bumps just to think of it.
Growing up in a family of artists I just done what came natural to me and I loved drawing creatures back in school as my teachers said I wasted to much time drawing. I kept learning my skill and in the 1980s and 90s I painted wildlife and specialised portraits and would enter any local art contest going to see if I would win. In 1999, I decided to get back into the paranormal world and start painting things that I enjoy so I started with the Bigfoot images and later the UFOs and other cryptids. It is what I enjoy basically and what others think of it is not important. I get so many "expert" opinions on my art telling me the inaccuracies, like they have seen a Bigfoot or a lake monster up close. I don't let it bother me anymore. Bigfoot is my main cryptid of choice and someday I hope to have a encounter with one.
2. With many of your drawings or paintings you seem to base what they look like on actual cases. Could you share a few cases with us that inspired some of your art?
Thomas Finley: There are a few that are from eyewitness accounts my favourite is a sketch I done while talking to a witness in Colorado in 2007. It is of a Bigfoot this gentleman had seen while working as a Ranger in the State. He had his sighting in 1969 and didn't like talking about it. He also shared with me some photos of tracks he claimed that a tribe of Bigfoot pass through his park each season on their way to New Mexico to basically get out of the bad winter weather. I almost threw this sketch away by accident recently and was very happy to have found it laying in a folder that said MISC. THROW AWAY. I have one interesting UFO painting I created from an eyewitness description which happened here in the United Kingdom a while back the witness a mobile party D.J. had a sighting of a group of UFOs passing over this football club playing ground, the UFOs were in the shape of a giant " W ". What I key on most of all when painting an eyewitness account is the way the person speaks as I listen to the emotion in their speech patterns with the Bigfoot account this gentleman was very emotional and it really rang true to me that his experience was authentic. Same with the UFO sighting, this guy was just packing up his van to go home and then this encounter takes place. Amazing!
3. What other beings from the paranormal world have you drawn artistically?
Thomas Finley: I have painted and drawn many fantastic creatures over the years Jeffery, Lake Monsters are a favourite, Bigfoot, aliens, movie monsters, The Yeti. The list is endless and timeless. Creatures are always coming off my art table. You name it I will make it and if the "experts" say it isn't accurate I just will make it more beyond belief. But, keeping a very scientific approach and making it look like an actual living creature. The best compliment or complaint you could call it was from a guy that said to me in an email, "hey dude, your Bigfoot look to REAL like something from National Geographic." He was not happy I guess with my detail.
4. I noticed you did a picture of Shaman Sasquatch. Do you think Bigfoot is a paranormal type being with multidimensional properties? What are your thoughts on this?
Thomas Finley: My painting "Bigfoot Shaman" was inspired by a email I saw on the a Bigfoot forum last year in it she was reflecting on a wild dream she had of being in a dark forest and coming through to a clearing to see a fire going with a troop of Bigfoot all wearing feathers and beating drums and dancing around the fire hooping it up! I though this is either the strangest dream ever or that there might be more underlying clues to what these beings may actually be like. In my travels I have come across accounts of Bigfoot tracks that just stop and disappear in the snow, where did the Bigfoot go? I like to keep the multi-verse theory a possibility as some of the Bigfoot cases are so strange. Also I think we may be dealing with more then one type of hominid one being home grown and the others being from "another place". Don't bet the house on that though.
5. Your art is beautiful and I am curious if you personally have had any paranormal experiences or spiritual experiences you would like to share or did hearing someone else's inspire you to do this type of art form?
Thomas Finley: I have had a hand full of paranormal related things happen over my life, but none that I could say inspired my artwork, there was a couple of haunting type events that really were eye-opening growing up. When I was a youngster my parents would send me to my grandmothers in Illinois for summer vacation off from school. It was an every other year type thing. Her house was this huge old Victorian place and had many rooms. I was told on my arrival by my little cousins that the place was haunted! Every night we would lay in bed and you could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and walking on the creaky floors. I later found out it was the ghost of Aunt Shirley who had lived their with my Grandmother for many years. Another summer stay I saw a figure of a woman standing in the kitchen and she just disappeared. That was freaky. Spooky for a kid, but fun. It could me more deeply interested in the paranormal. That's a plus. Thank you aunt Shirley.
6. When I first met you and saw your art I knew I wanted to interview you. Then I reached out and found out you had been painting Mothman to one of my shows with Andy Colvin Mothman Photographer. That was weird synchronocity. What do you think about Mothman?
Thomas Finley: The Mothman is a strange creature to be sure. I have always thought that this creature is a herald of things to come and if you see this thing it is a warning for impending trouble. Like an warning angel of sorts but in another form completely. There are others that think it might be a biological mutant that could be a possibility as well. That is another place on my list to visit someday, I would love to talk to some of the folks that have seen it and do a painting. That would be cool.
7. What type of process do you go through mentally and physically when you paint these beings? Do you see them first in your mind then paint them? Just curious to your creative process.
Thomas Finley: I will sit down with my pad and sketch a rough image, look for some back ground for reference and grab a Mountain Dew and get started, I also have a jar of Jelly Beans on my art table and I always have to listen to something paranormal on the internet. Like your awesome show Jeffery. I do have one bad habit once I start I have to finish it in a timely manner, sometimes staying up late this is when my wife says: " Thomas! Don't be so obsessive with it!" She likes to keep me in the real world from time to time.
8. You seem to be pretty active in the Sasquatch scene. It seems to be divided between wild undiscovered ape creature and human like wild people. What do you think?
Thomas Finley: Another great question, I have always believed that Bigfoot, Yeti, etc. are an unknown ape type being. A survivor from the time of the Ice Age this is what gives it the huge size as this was one of the factors for survival back in the past. It has evolved all these thousands and thousands of years to this ultimate elusive alpha predator, rarely seen but yet it lives on the edge of our civilization right next door. Then you have the other Bigfoot-Like beings, for example the Skunk Ape and the Ohio Grassman, I think these many be a different species of this lineage. The subject is just so interesting I wish there more hours in the day to research and do more artwork on the topic. I also think that the media is coming around to taking to the subject more seriously as well. I have been in contact with many reporters over the years and they are now genuinely taking the so called "giggle factor" out of their stories. I applause them for this as the story needs to be given better coverage to insure that these beings are protected in the future and a conservation plan can be put forth one day.
9. Could you tell us a bit about your art tools you use and type of canvas and things to that nature. I've always wanted to try painting but just can't seem to afford to buy all the stuff right now. What kinda info can you give us about your art supplies?
Thomas Finley: Have you ever heard the term "Starving artist"? Well it is real. I have simple supplies, I use heavy gauge paper as I like the thick quality for drawing on and I use a lot of black ink and it doesn't bleed through. For painting I use watercolours and oil pastels they are easy do blend and you can achieve some awesome effects as well. I have two digital graphic suites that I use Adobe Pro and another. I have just found some great coloured pens used by comic book artists I look forward to using them. I am a bargin basement kind of guy so I buy things on sale and store it for a rainy day. If your starting off get a nice set of watercolour paints and some quality paper a couple of sketch pads and some pencils and have at it. Everyone can draw take that from me.
10. I know you mentioned some of your Bigfoot postcards have been around the world which is pretty wild and cool. I am curious to what you are up to in the future painting wise and project wise? Any other paranormal beings you'd like to paint? Where is the best place for people to reach you at also?
Thomas Finley: As I mentioned to the other day in the email I have completed some artwork for friends book I painted a strange creature dubbed, "The Owlman" and this is a UK flying creature similar to "Mothman" in the U.S.A. I have more Bigfoot artwork on the table and I am doing some images for my compendium project. In 2000 I began a personal project to collect first hand accounts, media reports and historical data on paranormal and anomalous phenomena. The project is called ARCHIVE: X - PROJECT PARANORMAL. I am currently collecting data for the 2011-12 volume. I am always looking for new accounts to include in the compendium if your listeners or readers want to send me there details I will post them a media kit explaining the project and with it forms to complete and you will also receive some signed art cards and other goodies I give away as a thank you. I also cover return postage as well. If anyone would like a signed Bigfoot art card please contact me. If anyone would like any artwork of the paranormal kind you may contact me as well. You may reach me the following email address: capteasycheese@gmail.com
Hope to talk to you sometime and thanks for the great questions.
Aloha from the Jolly Old England.
Thomas Finley
Jeffery Pritchett is the host of The Church of Mabus radio show. Bringing you unique personalities in the paranormal and high strange always and forever til death do us part.
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Victor Cuvo, Attorney at Law
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