MARY LOUISE LONG
www.marylouiselong.com

My paintings and prints begin with an idea. This idea initiates a plan for the work. How best to present the image with paints on canvas or lithographic inks on the etching plate to make a monotype? Over a period of time the concept is edited, changed, obliterated, worked over, rearranged, until the most concise statement is made. I think of the poet, the novelist, working over a piece, rewriting, changing, honing the words until they say exactly what is needed, in the most economical way.

It is the same way to paint and articulate these works.
Shapes interest me the most. How to get the psychology of a particular shape to evoke what you want it to say easily enough, without redundancy. One must leave a freshness evident so the viewer can become involved, interact with the art. Perhaps asking the viewer a question in visual terms, to assume a fleeting thought, an emotion, or response to be transported to this visual world.