Upper Lake >> Marcie Long has a thing for color. Whether she’s painting landscapes, vegetables or flowers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single black-and-white image.
Inspired by her mother’s English garden, Long’s favorite subject is the blossoming petals of a flower. Many of her paintings feature only one flower, an extreme close-up of the bloom that gives a glimpse of the very center of the petals. In some ways, they’re similar to Georgia O’Keeffe, one of Long’s biggest inspirations.
Long’s expressionistic style allows her to exaggerate colors and create movement within her paintings. “I try and put the energy of the subject matter in the painting,” Long said. “Flowers have a lot of vibrancy and beauty. There will be a lot of motion, even in a still subject, because I’m trying to grab the essence of it.”
Long is the featured artist of June at the Lake County Wine Studio, where she’ll be showing a collection of her flowers. Though she sometimes paints with watercolors for her plein air work, her images at the Wine Studio were made with acrylics.
And with color at the forefront of her mind, it’s no surprise that she favors the thicker acrylic paint over the transparent style of watercolors. “It’s a lot easier to change things, I’m the kind of person that each painting is an exploration. I don’t have a really hard plan as far as the colors go,” Long said. “It suits my technique more to be able to explore the colors and change them as I want.”
Like many artists, Long has been painting for most of her life. Growing up in the Bay Area, she was hugely influenced by Asian art, thanks to a museum nearby. She fell in love with the clean lines and gradations of color, so different from the popular, impressionistic style of western art, where the subjects seemed the blend together. Years later, and Long is still looking to Asian artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige for inspiration.
When it came time for college, she didn’t follow her artistic inclinations, not at first. She studied English and Native American Studies, then worked for a financial business after graduating. She was less than inspired by her career path. So she went back to school at Sonoma State University to study commercial typography.
With her new area of focus, she was able to spend nearly three decades working for advertising agencies in the Bay Area. Then 26 years ago, Long moved to Lake County and decided she wanted to do illustration work in the graphic design industry. She still has her hand in illustration today. She also works as a commercial food photographer for a company out of Ukiah.
As for painting, Long is more from the school of self-education. She visits museums, attends art shows and reads art books. Though painting has always been her great love, it wasn’t until 2003 that she began devoting half of her time to painting and pursuing art seriously.
She hopes that her work inspires a greater appreciation of art. She strives to not only depict nature, but to draw viewers in and make them reconsider their ideas of beauty. “I think that Americans as a culture, they don’t value beauty as much as some other cultures,” Long said.
Although she’s painted a plethora of subjects over the years, Long doesn’t see herself losing steam any time soon. After all, when color is at the heart of the work, there are endless opportunities for experimentation. “I can’t see a time where I’m ever going to run out of subject matter,” she said.
There will be a reception for Long at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake tonight from 5 -7 p.m. A second reception is tomorrow from 4 -7 p.m. Wines from Kaz Winery will be featured, with appetizer pairings by Fresh and Bangin’.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
