Artist’s Bio:

Samantha Long is an artist who loves patterns and whimsy. She grew up in Utah Valley with her left-brained accountant mother and her right-brained musician father. She started taking art lessons at the age of 10 with Monique DeWitt and continued drawing right through high school. Samantha went on to study Illustration at Brigham Young University under Christopher Thurnock, Robert Barrett and Bethanne Anderson. While at BYU, Samantha took a History of Clothing course that fostered her love of period clothing, especially from Byzantium to the Middle Ages. She also completed an internship with artists Sherrie McGraw and David Leffel.

A draftsman at heart, Samantha’s process relies heavily on her early drawing training. She begins with a detailed line drawing which she then scans and transfers to a panel. Next, she applies paint on top being careful not to lose her initial sketch. Describing this process, Samantha says, “When I studied with Sherrie McGraw, she told me that I don’t paint; I draw with paint. While I was discouraged by that comment at first, I decided to embrace my nature and now ‘draw with paint’ full time.”

Samantha Long currently lives in American Fork, Utah with an empty guinea pig cage and an overflowing yarn dresser.