‘A thoughtful artist’

When Warwick Valley Middle School eighth grader Finley Moller was much younger, she wanted to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology and become a fashion designer. Finley no longer has that dream, but she still wants to have an artistic career.

“I just know that I want to make a career out of art because it’s something I really enjoy doing,” Finley said. “And since I was little, I’ve always wanted to do something art-related.”

Finley’s art has multiple styles. Her paintings are somewhat abstract. She does realistic art for her middle school class. Finley also uses her iPad to create digital drawings of people. Painting, however, is her favorite.

‘I’m just doing it’

“My painting style flows better because I’m not really putting my mind to anything – I’m just doing it,” Finley said. “I’ve been painting since I was really little, but I really started getting into it in sixth grade.”

Finley prefers to use acrylic paints because she is familiar with them and because she likes the bright colors. The painting Finley is holding in the photograph is acrylic on a 20-inch-by-20-inch canvas.

Signature clouds

“That painting is probably my favorite painting I’ve done so far, and it is inspired by some of my favorite colors (red, blue, teal and black),” Finley said. “The clouds that I added show up in all of my other paintings and they are kind of my signature. I picked it because I wanted to share the painting I’m most proud of.”

Finley is a Distance Learning Academy student, so for school projects she draws in her sketchbook and then uploads photographs of the art to Google Classroom.

“I’ve drawn a realistic strawberry, which was kind of hard, to be honest,” Finley said about one of her school assignments. “We also did a medical study where we would draw parts of a skeleton. That was really fun.”

‘I will miss her as she moves on’

Finley’s art teacher Nicole Sisco described her as extremely talented.

“I remember last year during the remote learning period I was always looking forward to seeing what she had created and even found myself sharing her work with my family because it was so nice to see such a talented young artist giving her own artistic spin to the assigned lessons,” Sisco said. “Finley has a great eye for art and her work reflects that with great depth to each drawing. I have seen her continue to push herself as a DLA student, and she is flourishing as a thoughtful artist. I know Finley will continue to do great work but I will miss her as she moves on.”

Finley has been using an iPad, an Apple Pencil and the Procreate app to create digital art for almost a year. She posts most of that artwork on her Instagram page.

Ukulele-playing member of the National Junior Honor Society

Finley also enjoys music. This year she is singing with the chorus, and last year she was a member of the Ukulele Club. Finley has been playing the instrument for three or four years.

“My mom bought a ukulele a couple of years ago, and I wanted to learn how to play it,” Finley said. “I looked up songs on YouTube and just started playing. It’s been fun.”

In addition to being an artist and a musician, Finley is a scholar. She was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society in October and was recently named to the Grade 8 Honor Roll for the first marking period. She also swims with the Aqua Gems.