The artist's studio is located near the small town of West Jefferson in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina - just minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the downtown West Jefferson Arts District. This area provides a scenic and culturally unique environment - winding country roads, bluegrass musicians, the New River (the 2nd oldest in the world), and quaint mountain farms - all provide inspiration for Tonya's paintings.

Tonya Bottomley is a native and resident of Western North Carolina. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree from Winston-Salem State University. Tonya also completed courses in design, sculpture, and painting at Brenau University in Georgia. She studied anatomy and figure drawing at the Scottsdale Artists School in Arizona. She studied painting at the Sawtooth Arts Center in Winston-Salem, NC. Her work is held in private, public, and corporate collections.