about lisa delong
I have lived in many different places, spending equal portions of my youth in Minnesota, California, and Utah, with a year as an exchange student in Stavanger, Norway. I currently live in London, where I completed my PhD in Traditional Art at The Prince's School of Traditional Arts in 2007, specializing in the principles of geometric design in Islamic and Western traditions. I have also made a special study of Medieval and Renaissance painting techniques.
I am currently an Outreach Project Manager for The Prince's School for which I design and conduct educational workshops internationally. I am also a professional artist and designer who exhibits regularly with work in several important collections, including that of HRH The Prince of Wales.
My paintings are composed using what is often loosely termed "sacred geometry," an ancient and complex discipline which has been used throughout history to design civilization's most sacred buildings. The geometry of the sacred is present in all my work; most conspicuously in the Islamic geometry paintings, and less conspicuously in my other pieces. Sometimes the construction lines are revealed, in other paintings they are concealed, but they are always present as an ordering principle.
Whenever possible, I make my own paints from pigments derived from nature (earth, stones, plants, etc), although I also use commercially manufactured materials in many cases. My works on panel are painted with a combination of egg tempera and oil paint which is layered, scraped back, and reapplied to give a luminous and rich effect. The panels are prepared following the method described by Cennino Cennini in the early 15th century. When I use handmade watercolor, I find that I am able to achieve beautifully saturated and complex colors that are less achievable with commercial colors.
Inspiration for my imagery is frequently found in what the Medieval theologians called "The Book of Nature". Profound principles of order are found in the world of Nature; she is our best teacher. She finds freedom in obeying law -- a principle clearly exhibited in the simultaneously infinite and limited forms of snowflakes or the growth of flowers. These laws form the basic structure of my work: geometry creates order and enhances the symbols of color, gesture, and shape. I seek to perfectly marry the organic and geometric, the biomorphic and the crystalline.