Essence of Faces

Yardley, Pa., painter Marie Finn has assembled a wide variety of portraits for a show in Lambertville.

By: Jodi Thompson

"Generations Past" by Albert Bross Jr.

   Pat Croce’s smile is familiar from his efforts as former team
president of the Philadelphia Sixers and his unbridled enthusiasm for wiring all
of the Delaware Valley with Comcast cable. His toothy grin behind the scruffy
goatee and eyes beaming behind round wire-rimmed glasses regularly appear on the
sports page, in the business news and occasionally the front page.
   For Yardley artist Marie Finn, his open countenance made a perfect
subject for her passion: painting portraits. She remembered Mr. Croce from his
childhood.
   "He lived next to my parents for a while when he was a child,"
Ms. Finn says. That was reason enough to paint his portrait.
   Upon completion, she e-mailed Mr. Croce to relate what she had
done. Curiosity led him to request a photo. He was so pleased he purchased the
painting.
   Bell’s Tavern on Union Street in Lambertville, N.J., will show
14 of Ms. Finn’s paintings through early January. The works include still life
and landscapes in addition to portraiture.
   Ms. Finn just can’t stop painting portraits. Perhaps she is
making up for lost time when the circumstances of her life stood in the way of
her art. Family finances didn’t allow her to pursue an art degree right out of
Neshaminy High School. She went to work instead. Then she married and raised five
children with her husband, Tom.

Portrait by Marie Finn

   She was teaching art classes at St. Ignatius School in Yardley
when she realized it was time to return to art. Ms. Finn enrolled in classes at
Bucks County Community College in Newtown. Family responsibilities again deterred
her progress but didn’t stop it completely. It took seven years, yet she earned
an associate of arts from Bucks. The community college didn’t offer classes on
the subject about which Ms. Finn is most passionate, so she pursued portraiture
at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
   "Little by little, I got hooked and put in another four years,"
Ms. Finn says. "I’m a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts."
   Hard-earned certificate and life experience in hand, Ms. Finn
works from her rural studio in Ringoes, N.J.
   "Now I’m able to give it my all," she says with relish.
   It seems everywhere she turns Ms. Finn is inspired to paint.
While waiting for the train that would return her to Bucks County after a class
one evening, she spied Gen. Washington on the platform.
   "I couldn’t resist, he just looked so wonderful," she says.
"I asked him if he’d consider posing for me."
   The general was actually Bucks history professor K. Ward Vinson
heading to his home in Langhorne after a day of portraying our first president
for tourists.
   He came to her home in full regalia and posed. Ms. Finn added
Independence Hall to the background of the piece. Professor Vinson was so thrilled
with the results he purchased the painting for his home. Former police commissioner
John Timoney had a similar experience with one of Ms. Finn’s pieces. She had done
a small painting of the commissioner from a photograph and the work hung in the
Academy. When he learned of the likeness, he wanted to view it.

Painting by Marie Finn

   "It was kind of exciting," Ms. Finn says. "They had a police
escort out in the street waiting for him. They had the room roped off and a photographer
and so forth. As we chatted, he said he knows a lot about a lot of things but
he didn’t know a lot about art. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that there
was a price on the wall. And when he didn’t offer to purchase it, I offered it
to him after the show was over."
   Her generosity didn’t go unrewarded. The commissioner kindly
gave Ms. Finn permission to use his name on her resumé.
   Many of the artist’s other subjects don’t have to give Ms. Finn
permission, namely her children, grandchildren and husband, Tom.
   Mr. Finn sat patiently for his wife while she was still a student.
The large oil hangs in their family room. In it, his white hair is covered with
a large, black hat. The pocket of his teal work shirt holds his eyeglasses case.
He wears brown leather suspenders and an expression of pure indulgence.
   Daughter Maryanne sat for her mother the evening before going
into labor with daughter Anna, now 18 months old.
   "The last (sitting) she did for me was on a Sunday afternoon,"
Ms. Finn says of her third daughter, "and by midnight she was in labor."

Marie Finn

   The young mother sits in a lacy blue nightgown, legs relaxed,
hands clasped. He brown hair flows across her shoulders. The smile is reminiscent
of Mona Lisa. She is surrounded by figments of her mother’s imagination in the
painting titled "Mother Earth in the Garden of the Celtic Riverhead." A lush garden
surrounds her, a beloved family pet peeks through the blooms as St. Francis floats
among the greenery near the open garden door. A straight path leads out the door
to a Celtic riverhead figure representing one of the rivers of Ireland. A full
moon hangs in the dusky sky.
   Little Anna will be reminded of her mother’s contentment and
her grandmother’s creativity every time she glances at the piece hanging on her
parents’ wall.
   Ms. Finn welcomes commissions. A 16-by-20 inch portrait begins
at $800. Although she mostly paints in oils, she draws in charcoal and pastels,
too. She works as well from live sittings as from photographs. Her vivid imagination
can fill in any blanks.
   Peter Paone, a professor at the Academy, planted the seeds for
Ms. Finn’s creativity to blossom. "He kept telling me that I had a great imagination,"
she says.
   Perhaps Ms. Finn only imagined the patience and indulgence of
her models, but it doesn’t seem so. Whether a pregnant daughter, a Philadelphia
personality or history buff, her subjects seem serene and pleased to be captured
on canvas.
Marie Finn’s work will be on display at Bell’s Tavern, 180 N. Union St., Lambertville,
N.J., through early January. For information or commissions, call (215) 736-0458;
email: [email protected]