Tim Long discovered his love for painting at an early age.
“I was encouraged by my parents, teachers and classmates,” says Long. “Around third grade, I realized I was pretty good at art and knew it was something I wanted to do. I checked out a book from the school library called Indian Values: Past and Present by Lu Celia Wise, and the paintings I saw in it were amazing. My drawings quickly started emulating the Bacone School artists I saw in this book.”
Fast forward a few years and Long needed a Father’s Day present. Little did he know this one necessity would cement his passion.
“My mom suggested I make something for him,” Long says. “I made a painting based on a George Catlin piece in the Bacone style using model airplane paints. As soon as I was done with that piece, I knew I was a painter – and that painting and art would be part of my life until the day I die.”
Long says he continued to paint through high school and college but slowed down as he got older and started working.
“Towards the end of 2019, I found myself with some extra time, and my wife encouraged me to start painting again. It didn’t take too long to get into the swing of things and I now make sure to make time for painting.”
Long says his biggest inspirations are found right here in Oklahoma.
“The people, cultures and landscapes are diverse – and I feel like inspiration is all around,” he says. “Having been inspired by many Native American artists and growing up in a state with 39 sovereign nations, I draw a lot of inspiration from Native American culture and art.”
However, in the last couple of years, Long has been using old, black and white photos from his family as references for his art.
“It allows me to use history as a lens and subject matter for my art and connect with my past,” Long says. “Obviously, the viewer won’t know my family history or stories behind the reference photos but I’m pretty certain they’ve seen old photos of their own families with men in cowboy hats and overalls, ladies on horses, or guys standing around after a Sunday dinner, and can relate or make up their own stories.”
Long says he likes to take a modern approach with his art even though the subject matter is mainly from the past.
“My degree is in history,” Long says. “I’ve looked through that lens in my approach to art. I like to create work that is not quite finished and leave the viewer with the ability to fill in the blanks or finish the story of that piece.”
His work is ever-expanding and in the future, he would like to do a series of paintings on Oklahoma musicians, past and present.
“There are so many musicians and influencers who come from this state, and people hear them every day and don’t know they are from Oklahoma,” he says. “I would like to shine a little light on them.”
Oklahoma, he says, has all the inspiration he needs as an artist.
