Five years ago oil painter Mikolean Morgan Longacre took a leap of faith. For 20 years she had been a successful trademark attorney in the Washington, D.C. area. Although always a painter she was only able to focus on painting when she could squeeze in time or a class or two between trials. Longacre and her husband Jim, a patent attorney were living three miles from the D.C. border and commuting everyday to their boutique law firm in Crystal City Virginia. Every holiday for 10 years, the Longacres would visit friends on Amelia Island. Each would longingly look for the day when they could have a house on the water and give up commuting forever.
As fate would have, they were visiting friends one Thanksgiving in 2000 and noticed a house on Lanceford Creek off of Amelia Island. It was the view of the Marsh that took both she and Jim’s breath away. Right then, Longacre knew she needed live there and to paint full-time. This property became her muse. By September 2001, she along with her two beloved dogs were waiting for the moving van during the terrible events of September 11 and waiting for Jim to arrive from their office in Crystal City, only one quarter mile from the Pentagon. The events of September 11, 2001 further convinced her that time was right to move and devote herself to study and to painting full-time.
In the course of five years Longacre traveled extensively to study with some of the best classical painters in the United States and Ireland. Now from her studio loft overlooking Lanceford Creek she interprets the marsh in oil. “Everyday, I wake up and think I live in the most beautiful place in the world. The colors change continuously, the marsh is always different in color and feeling. The colors are exquisite and different everyday.” she exclaims.
Longacre begins each painting on toned oil linens consistent with her training as a classical painter. During the course of her day, she studies the marsh, jots down sketches and sometimes takes photographs. Once a sketch has been chosen, she then works on picking the right colors to express the specific mood of the marsh. “I love color and with color you can convey a mood. Moreover, color engages the viewer and allows the viewer participate in the painting, which is my ultimate goal.”
Longacre places somewhere in every painting a light, representing Venus, the evening star, sometimes bright, sometimes dim. Sometimes almost lost in color, sometimes standing out. To her this simply deepens the illusion of permanence. Venus appears to be a constant, but it is just as dynamic as the other elements in the paintings.
The Florida Marsh is not Longacre’s only subject. She is intrigued by the figure and the figure as part of the Landscape and plans a future series of paintings incorporating the figure in her beloved marsh. For her landscapes she takes her inspiration from the 19th century Luminist and Hudson River School of Fredrick Church, George Inness. She is also inspired present day masters Sawada, P.A. Nisbet and Mikel Wintermantel.
Longacre studied at the Maryland School of Art and Design in 1994. Since 2001 she has studied intensively with Johnnie Liliedahl in Houston Texas; Robert A. Johnson of Virginia both accomplished masters of the traditional classical school of painting. Also, with Luminist painter Mikel Winternmantel of Massachusetts and recently with famed portrait painter Anthony J. Ryder in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Venus and Reflections of Lanceford Creek”, featuring new paintings by Mikolean M. Longacre are scheduled at the Amelia SanJon Gallery, 218A, Ash Street, Amelia Island Florida, 904/491-8040, October 7-December 31, 2006. A public reception is scheduled for October 7 from 5:30pm-9:00 pm. www.ameliasanjongllery.com and www.mikoleanlongacre.com
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