Paul Finn was born in Batley West Yorkshire in 1954. He studied initially at Ravensbourne School of Art ( 1972-76 ) and then at the Slade School of Fine Art ( 1976-78 ). After graduating he was appointed 10th Brinkley Fellow at Norwich School of Art, now Norwich University of the Arts ( 1978-79 )
Since then Paul has worked as a painter and a teacher. He has exhibited widely and has won bursaries to exhibit his work with the British Council in Europe and the Far East. Group exhibitions include the Young Contemporaries, the Hayward Annual, Gainsborough's House (Prizewinner)  Whitechapel Open, The Russell Coates Museum, The New English Art Club,  The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Royal Institute of painters in Watercolour, and the London Group Open. In 2017 he was invited to join the Arborealist Group. He has exhibited at Flatford, John Constables birthplace and has work in collection in Europe, the Far East and the USA.

" I am a landscape painter. I work from observation, but am not an en plein air painter, nor would I say they my work is entirely realistic. Drawing from direct observation using ink, graphite, charcoal, or a mixture of materials, allows me the freedom to invent my paintings away from the landscape. In this way I try to give a deeper account of the world, and my responses to it. Drawings are works in their own right and are rarely plans for paintings. My paintings are not made to a prescribed or predetermined system. I try to respond what is happening as the paintings appear, during their making. This means that I rework and repaint the works many times until they seem 'right'.
Primarily my interest is in the depiction of space. By this I mean two things: the spatial divisions on the flat surface, and the illusory space created by colour, tone, mark and composition. I enjoy the unpredictability of paint and how it's properties will change the painting in unexpected ways. Ultimately I want to recollect and recreate my initial observations and emotions which are experienced when I am in the landscape."

" Paul Finn's work focuses not on the landscape it depicts, but instead on the way a landscape is experienced. Rather than simply assimilating and recording a scene, Finn places himself, his impressions and his artistic process in the foreground. In doing so he says important things about the relationship, between Art and Environment, Man and Nature, seeing and sensing, viewer and painter. "
Dr Anna Maria Barry, Observations and Recollections, the paintings of Paul Finn.