By Marilyn Bauer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Loren Long at home with his dog, Stella. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

Ask him to describe his work and he will say conventional realism with an edge. Ask Madonna to describe his work and she might say visionary. In fact Madonna was so impressed with Loren Long's "vision" she hired the West Chester Township artist to illustrate her new children's book.

Mr. Peabody's Apples (Callaway Editions/Penguin; $19.95) will be in stores Monday.

"I got the call on Halloween last year. My wife and I were trying to get our boys ready for trick-or-treating," Long says. "A call from my agent comes in, and he says he is faxing me a confidentiality agreement that I have to sign before he can tell me what it's about."

Nicholas Callaway, founder of Callaway Editons, had conducted a worldwide search to find the right illustrator for Madonna's book.

"We spent many months researching the project," Callaway says. "We thought Loren was perfect for the work stylistically. His work is inspired by Thomas Hart Benton. So we gave him a test and he passed with flying colors."

The test was to create an illustration based on the book's manuscript without any direction. Long says he knew exactly what to paint. He came back with the image that would be featured on the book's cover.

BOOK SIGNING

Loren Long will sign copies of Mr. Peabody's Apples and his other books. When: 10:30-noon Saturday Where: The Blue Manatee, 3054 Madison Road, Oakley More information: 731-2665 There's more: Paintings from all his books will be on display, and Long will discuss them and his decision to illustrate children's books.

"I think I was meant for this story," Long says. "It was destiny that they chose the right guy."

Mr. Peabody's Apples is a story about the power of words and the importance of teachers. It takes place in 1949 in Happville, USA. Mr. Peabody, the local history teacher and baseball coach, finds himself ostracized when rumors about him spread through the small town. Mr. Peabody silences the gossip and at the same time teaches a poignant lesson on how words can hurt others.

"I sat down with a cup of coffee on that Saturday morning after the call and read this story trying not to be influenced by who wrote it," the 37-year-old Long says. "It was strong, and I believed in the merit of the story. At the end of the day that's all that mattered to me."

Going for a signature style

Born in Joplin, Mo., and raised in Lexington, Long knew by the time he was in college at the University of Kentucky that he wanted to be an artist. After graduating in 1987, he attended commercial art school at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He received a bachelor's degree in art studio in 1988 and went on to work for the now defunct Gibson Greeting Card Co. in Cincinnati.

"It was a place to hang my hat," he says. "If I hadn't had the job at Gibson, I may have floundered. I really wanted to become a freelance illustrator and compete nationally. I began to freelance at night - magazines, editorial projects mostly."

One of Long's first freelance assignments, an illustration of Tony Bennett, was for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Now he looks like your average guy, favoring navy sweaters and khaki pants, white socks and slippers.

"My drive came from my need to earn a living," Long says. "I was confident but deep down inside very insecure. But I thought if someone else can do it, why can't I. If I'm going to do something as crazy as doing art for a living, why not go for the biggest and the best?"

Long knew in order to be noticed by the big national books, he was going to have to have a signature style. He began studying the work of N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parish. He explored the work of the American School painters of the 1920s and '30s and was inspired by Benton and Grant Wood. He was also drawn to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) muralists.

"Each artist is trying to find the filter they can utilize to express their vision," says fellow Cincinnati illustrator Chris (C.F.) Payne. "Loren has the ability to capture an American spirit in the way he stylizes the figure and yet still maintain the character's personality."

"The reason I was drawn to them is they were people from the Midwest, like me," says the soft-spoken Long. "I had a connection to them. They were storytellers. That's what I like to do, tell stories."

He left Gibson in 1992 when he felt he could cover the rent on his $200 apartment over Miller Gallery on Hyde Park Square. In 1993 he met and married Centerville native Tracy Maines. The Longs have two children Griffith, 8, and Graham, 6.

His big break came in 1995 when Forbes Magazine hired him to do a cover. Assignments from Sports Illustrated and Time followed.

"I started having good fortune," he says, adding that the influences of Benton and Woods had begun to show up in his work. "It's what made Forbes and Sports Illustrated and Time call me here in Cincinnati."

It's also what made children's book publishers seek him out to illustrate young-readers novels, chapter books and picture books.

"I'm trying to take a story and develop the cinematography for the movie," he says of his process. "The words are like a screenplay and I'm choosing which scenes to bring to life. It's very creative and a higher art form."

The ability to tell a story in a child's storybook has led Long on a new path. "That's what I am going to be doing for the next 30 years."

After the hoopla over the Madonna book is over, he is committed to three years' worth of children's books, including one he is writing and illustrating himself.

"I'm trying to create art that would look good in the Cincinnati Art Museum or any other museum for that matter," he says. "The process of making a children's book from start to finish is very fulfilling. It's a way to touch children and to have an impact on American culture in general."

E-mail mbauer@enquirer.com