About our Artist
Christiana Long is an artist who aspires to reach the world with truth, freedom and gospel of Jesus Christ through her artwork.
About our Artist
Before a time I could even remember, I'd always loved to draw as well as participate in arts and crafts. I would reflect on various occasions getting in trouble from drawing on the wall and the back of our car seats. But I never noticed my true passion until I was 11 or 12. I would look at YouTube tutorials on how to draw celebrities and cartoon characters. The longer I continued to do this I started to notice progress and growth within my skills. I also realized that YouTube videos alone weren't enough for the progress I was trying to make. I started to research and buy books where I could see the steps to create different figures. My classmates in school also took notice of my artistic abilities, and I would find the whole class on various occasions asking me to draw for group projects.
When I got to the age when art was offered as a class, I signed up, and that is where I started to learn the basic concepts of art. Even in this, it seemed like I wasn't making the progress I desired; but I decided to stay in the classes and learn as much as possible. Over the years, my art teachers started to notice my art abilities and would spend extra time with me to try to assist with my progress. Yet still, I would look at the skill level of other artists and desire to get there. I didn't stop and continued to sketch and practice, whether in class in the back of my math journals or at home in my bed in my sketchbook.
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A couple of years after giving my life to Christ, around my first year of high school, I started to learn the power of prayer. I began to seek after God and his plan for my life, and I brought God into the situation. I prayed and asked God to supernaturally give me the ability to do art excellently and with an advanced skill level. I then started to see my abilities expand and started to not only create 'just art' but art with meaning behind it.
Summer of my sophomore year, I started to seek out the Lord for my assignment and vocation. I began to notice my interest in relationships, psychology, and the mind. I prayed the whole summer and prayed a prayer along these lines..."God, I really want to do psychology. Please allow me to do it, BUT only if it's your will; I won't pursue it unless it is your purpose for my life. God supernaturally confirmed it to me through a minister that is very near and dear to my heart (Dr. Gabriel Rogers) and used him to tell me God's will for my life supernaturally. Through him, God revealed that my life assignment is Psychology/ Counseling and Art Therapy, which I was ecstatic to hear.
Moving on, after vowing never to do art in color (digitally, paint, markers, Prisma colors, etc.), my art teachers challenged me to expand and move from just graphite and black-and-white art. I began to broaden my horizons and tried to create art pieces using color. In this, I started to pray before and during the creation process of a piece for God to give me the abilities and knowledge to create on an acceptable level. I then found myself starting to be satisfied with my creations. I started submitting many of my art pieces to competitions throughout my last years of Highschool. In the very last contest I entered to compete in, I won first place and a $2000 scholarship.
I was accepted to Oral Roberts University, majoring in Bachelor of Arts Psychology and Minoring in Art. I intend to get my Master's in Psychology with a focus in Marriage and family counseling and pursue Art Therapy.
I give my Lord all the credit, glory, and honor for the gifts and talents he has bestowed on me. He gave his life for me, so I have given mine to him to utilize in whatever way he sits fit to advance his kingdom!