About Me

Samantha Long is an artist who loves patterns, bright colors, and whimsy. She started taking art lessons at the age of 10 with fine artist Monique DeWitt and continued with art through high school. It wasn’t until Samantha was chosen as a Sterling Scholar for Fine Art, however, that she started taking art more seriously. After taking her art portfolio over to Bob Barrett and receiving an invitation to study with his department, Samantha decided to study Illustration at Brigham Young University under Christopher Thornock, Robert Barrett, and Bethanne Andersen. “I did Illustration not because I intended to do illustration— quite the contrary, actually; I hate being told what to paint. I did it because the program taught me how to draw. If you can draw, you can tackle pretty much anything— in art and life.” 

It was at BYU that Samantha discovered oil paint. “My high school art teacher was allergic to oils, so we weren’t allowed to use them in her class. I also was under the impression that oil paint was dark and brown and cracked, like old 19th century portraits. I didn’t want to paint like that. When I discovered that paint came in colors such as Cadmium Red, Quinacridone Magenta, and Pthalo Green, I was won over.” 

In addition to oils, Samantha took a History of Clothing course in college that fostered her love of period habiliments, especially from the 18th century to the Edwardian Era. “There’s such a timelessness that comes from painting the clothing of the past. There’s a charm that a fine lace gown has, for example, that one just can’t get from jeans and a t-shirt. Jeans ain’t pretty.” Consequently her paintings almost always make use of the clothing of the past. 

Samantha has been labeled a colorist. When she was 12, Samantha did a picture of a family of guinea pigs, all without using the color black. “They were my ‘rainbow pigs,’ I was told. I never quite understood why no one else could see the colors I was seeing. All those purples and oranges were in there to begin with; I didn’t make them up.” Recently while in a figure painting session, she received a similar comment from a fellow painter who teased her of painting the portrait with rainbow colors, rather than the mostly brown tones he was using. “I’ve come to the conclusion that I must see color differently. I never feel like I’m exaggerating colors that much. (Others may beg to differ.) Really it doesn’t matter what color you use, as long as the value and the color temperature are right. Why would you paint with such a boring color, like brown, when one can use orange and pink and green?” 

So how does one describe her paintings? “I usually say something like, ‘I paint whimsical, colorful figures with subtly moral themes.’ It’s not long after the confused stares that I pull up some images.” It’s true that her paintings are colorful; a person who grows up in a green bedroom with pink, yellow, green, and purple stripes can’t turn out normal. It’s true that her paintings often contain an inordinate amount of pattern and detail— like Rococo in a Skittles commercial. Her paintings, however, are more than just about beauty. “I always have a message,” Samantha says. “I want my painting to say more than, ‘what a pretty gown that redhead is wearing.’ It has to have a point. I’ve done paintings about waiting on the Lord, gathering truth, making decisions, finding a spouse, and I did a whole series based on religious hymns. Lately I’ve been pursuing a vein of paintings about simple pleasures and the things that make life enjoyable. I’ve often been labeled a cynic (I prefer to think of myself as a realist), but I always strive for hope and optimism. Maybe I paint that so much because I have a hard time seeing it in my everyday life. If I can help someone else see the joy in life, maybe I can learn to see it better, too.”

Samantha Long currently lives in American Fork, Utah with an empty guinea pig cage, an orderly yarn drawer sorted by color, and several underperforming plants.