The art of making others smile

It's a common myth that finding your true calling is reserved for the young, fresh out of school and ready to conquer the world. Reality, however, is often far more inspiring. For longtime Monroe County resident Adam Long, finding his purpose as an artist became more a journey than a destination.

"I thought I was going to be a teacher," Long recalled. "I tried that for a while in the Houston [Texas] area, but I quickly found out that I did not like to stay inside the box, literally or metaphorically."

Long, who studied elementary education and business at Franklin College, said he has no formal art training. In fact, he didn't begin to paint professionally until the age of 40.

"It was mostly an accident," Long said of his full-time career working as a mural artist. "I'm completely self-taught. The first time I ever painted anything with a brush for money, I was 40 years old. When I was younger, I would draw and create, and I was passionate about it for sure so when I had the opportunity to take my creativity to another level, I went for it."

Long's first paid job as an artist was for the Cloverleaf Family Restaurant on the south side of Bloomington.

"At the time I had never painted professionally before, but they didn't know that," he said. "They paid me, and I went and got some cheap paint brushes and some paint from the hardware store because I really didn't know what I was doing. I ended up painting some images related to Indiana University, including Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium. Somebody else saw the mural when it was done and asked me to do another mural – that just kind of started the ball rolling."

Long said from the moment he started painting with a brush, he knew he'd never turn back. To date, he's created more than 300 murals, each one different from the last.

"I'd say that what I do is 75 percent sales and 25 percent art and in order to keep the ball rolling, you have to do that," he explained. "I get to know the person or people that want the artwork. I really need to know who I am talking to and to get a feel for how they sound when they talk about what they enjoy. I just pick up on all those verbal cues and in the course of a conversation, I can usually understand what kind of artwork they like just from the way they talk and answer questions."

Once a client or an individual settles on a theme, Long said they can work through the mural and its images together, organically.

Long's most recent project found the artist at work on Spencer's west side, creating a memorable mural for Travis and Krista Dill at their property along West State Road 46.

"Initially, all he really wanted was a flag and an eagle. He just said, 'Go for it, do whatever you want.' And that's the best thing to do with an artist," Long said. "When you have someone who says, you know what you're doing, you're the pro so go for it… having that freedom to really create is special. This was absolutely one of my favorite jobs."

Long quickly built upon the initial flag/eagle idea, incorporating the falls at McCormick's Creek State Park into the mural among other details, including Spencer, Indiana and the name of the couple's business, KMSJ Services. The project took an estimated 40 hours to complete from start to finish.

"I like to get in and really find what I'm doing through trial and error," Long said. "I'm not a very good artist as far as saying here's what I'm going to do, and I'm going to stick to it. I've never been that way. I like to create and then kind of destroy to get to the best possible outcome. I might repaint an entire wall, 50-foot long and 20-foot high, three times just to make sure that it looks right."

The vibrant piece of local art at the Dill property has already generated countless comments on social media and through word of mouth in and around Spencer.

"I like the idea of the waving flag and the fact that it has motion," Long explained. "I like things in motion. I thought having the eagle's head that big would be necessary to see it from the road with detail, so that's why I ended up making it as big as I did. And then the falls at McCormick's Creek is something that's nearby and is well known. The idea was, if I added something that was from nature, then I could spread the trees and the green across and over to the other side of the flag so the mural would have a good balance throughout. There's water, an animal and a flag, and they're all moving so it just kind of feels alive, like it's all in motion."

For Long, 47, leaving something behind that creates a feeling of happiness in others is the most rewarding part of his career.

"Every time I paint something, it's left out there and people can see it and enjoy it," he said. "I don't get a lot of sleep anymore because I'm excited to get up, get going and do my play. I call it play because it's not really a job, it's more than that. It just adds to being able to wake up and be happy every day knowing that I'm giving someone else something to smile about. I think everyone is looking for a chance to make other people smile, and I feel like I have that."

Long and his wife, Nicole, make their home in Smithville with the couple's daughter, Lorene Maree.

To contact the artist or to see more of his work, visit Adam Long on Facebook.