Woodie Long may have originally been a house painter by trade, but he was a true storyteller and artist at heart. His gregarious nature and love of life gave him a unique perspective, an ability to see each new day as a fresh chance to find wonder. It was an almost child-like zeal, easily seen in the many paintings he produced during his later years. And with each of the colorful works he created, Long offered a peek into his own life and his childhood as a poor sharecropper’s son—showing not a hard history full of struggle; but one of happy memories, glimpses of carefree moments of pure, simple joy.