Valerie comes from a family of makers, including her father, who was an oil painter, furniture makerand electrical engineer ,and her mother who was a juried member of the Historic Society of Early American Decoration (HSEAD) as well as creating pieces of art with rosemaling, and other traditional arts. Valerie started painting in oils when she was in college. After graduation from college she became a Registered Dietitian and part-time took lessons in bronze powder stenciling. She became a juried member of HSEAD. Later, Valerie started painting in encaustic wax and this has been her passion since 2011. 

Encaustic painting is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid beeswax and damar resin. After the encaustic paint has been applied to the support, which is usually made of wood, plaster, or canvas, a heating element is passed over the surface until the individual brush or spatula marks fuse into a uniform film. This “burning in” of the colors is an essential element of true encaustic technique.

Encaustic wax has many of the properties of oil paint: it can give a very brilliant and attractive effect and offers great scope for elegant and expressive brushwork. The practical difficulties of using a medium that has to be kept warm are considerable. Apart from the greater sophistication of modern methods of heating, the present-day technique is similar to that described by the 1st-century Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. Encaustic painting was invented by the ancient Greeks and was brought to the peak of its technical perfection by the genre painter Pausias in the 4th century BC.

Currently, Valerie is the immediate Past President of the Women’s Caucus for Art/New Hampshire. The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals (https://nationalwca.org). The WCA sponsors exhibitions and conferences to promote women in the artists and their works and recognizes the talents of artists through their annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Since 1975 it has been a United Nations-affiliated non-governmental organization (NGO), which has broadened its influence beyond the United States. Within the WCA are several special interest causes including the Women of Color caucus, Eco-Art Caucus, Jewish Women Artist Network, International Caucus and the Young Women's Caucus.

Websites Showing Valerie Long’s Work: valerielongencaustic.com , https://www.saatchiart.com