An open can of green house paint provided the inspiration for Kathryn Andrews Fincher’s first “hands-on” painting at age three. Using her four-year old brother as her bare canvas, she completed her first full-figure original. Kathy’s mother loves to tell her, “Kathy, you were meant to be an artist! Especially you have a knack for painting children.”
Kathy was born into a family of focused, determined people. Her aunt, Ann Parsons Odum, preserves history by painting local historic buildings, sometimes before they are to be torn down. Kathy’s mother, Margaret Parsons Andrews, is a painter and visionary organizer who spearheaded a drive to raise funds to build and fund two Fine Arts Centers, including a one-of-a-kind children’s fine arts museum and school.
With these influences to guide her, Kathy fell in love with art and drawing at a young age. Most anything was her palette. Sketches could be found in trails throughout the house. In high school, however, Kathy changed her tools of expression from a paintbrush to skis. She was a national water-skiing champion, excelling at show skiing and tournament skiing. In 1975, she represented the United States by water skiing at the World Expo in Japan. She also taught snow skiing, ballet skiing, and aerials and was on the Delta Airlines Ski Team, racing competitively.
When she married at age thirty-three, she wasn’t ready to hang up her skis, but fate played a hand, and she became pregnant within weeks. Decorating the nursery in anticipation of their new arrival, Kathy did a sweet painting of two little girls on a bench, one a blonde, clearly the older, with her arm around the other, a redhead. Her first child, Maggie, was a blonde-haired baby girl and a year and a half later a red-haired baby girl, Kelley, followed. Only after a friend remarked on the charming portrait of her daughters was the similarity discovered. Somehow Kathy’s painting was a window into the future, and she was relieved she didn’t paint five little boys!
After her first child was born, Kathy renewed her art studies at the encouragement of her husband, mother, and aunt. The three artists studied with Philip Lekki, an artist who worked in pastels in the Impressionist style. He taught them about layering colors with mixed media and about light play. Kathy enjoyed a freedom and expression that freed her from the strict discipline of her classical background. Kathy’s background was built on a strong foundation in classical drawing and oil painting through studio studies with Paris-trained Lydia Banks McCrary, an accomplished Renaissance style artist. Kathy’s studies with Mrs. McCrary continued off and on until her death in 2000. Today Kathy considers her style a “blend of traditional realism with the freedom of Impressionism.”
Kathy was able to paint at home, and found that using her own children as models, as well as the children of neighbors and friends, deepened her enjoyment of painting. Each painting has a story that comes with it—either the one told by the parent of the child pictured, or through the expression on the child’s own face. Kathy’s work captures children on the brink of discovery.
"Children have the ability to awaken in us the everday miracles of God's creations," she says. "Capturing this young, free-flowing spirit is a continuous challenge. Often children make me feel as if I'm the student of their pure and simple wonder!"
While her athletic achievements brought her many honors, being a mom and painting children has brought a joy and peace she never found on skis. Already an award-winning artist and a success in the art print market, Kathy continues to illustrate books for Harvest House. Her artwork appears on a variety of licensed products with DEMDACO, Amcal, Roman, Inc., Leaning Tree, Harvest House Publishers, DaySpring and Dickson's. Her limited edition prints are available through Somerset House Publishing.
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