September 2010
When entering the Merchants Gathering in Jerome—an old filling station complete with pump—visitors often find Cody DeLong, brush in hand. On a Friday, he carefully daubed drab olive paint on a canvas to bring a relic truck to life. Whether he is mixing oils for a still life or a landscape, his subjects are often right around the corner.
“I drove an RV around the US for four years, and I kept coming back to the West, Arizona in particular, because there’s so much public land,” said DeLong who settled in Cottonwood a dozen years ago. “I can go ten minutes in any direction from my house and be on a trail where I can paint.”
DeLong is a representational artist who employs stylized color and a radiance that beckons the viewer. “I push color a bit, and create a believable sense of light in my landscapes, my primary focus. I work to create a variety of surface texture—thin, transparent passages in shadow areas and thicker, opaque passages with heavy paint build-up in the lit plane. I always tell my students: Design will draw someone across the room, but surface texture and details will hold their attention.”
Deep in the Canyon, a huge 40-x-30-inch piece, does just that. The water virtually flows off the canvas with its horizontal ripples while a vertical mirror of rock stabs below the surface. The canyon’s delicate light pulls the eye to a fiery bulwark of intense brushwork, each edge of weathered stone evident and luminous. Behind it, the canyon grows darker and loses form.
At five years old, DeLong began painting, and though he grew up in Michigan, he is constantly inspired by the arid West. “I was drawn to the desert by the freedom of the open spaces and the rugged hopefulness that accompanies a life lived in the West. My life has been about pursuing as much freedom as I can—that’s why I’m an artist.”
DeLong studied at the Loveland Academy of Fine Arts as well as Scottsdale Artists School on a merit-based scholarship. He believes that learning to paint requires more than technique and an emotional response. One needs to be able to translate a vision into a reality. He teaches these concepts in classes and workshops en plein air (French for “open air”) around Sedona and Flagstaff three to four times a year. This type of painting utilizes natural light captured in quick, broad brushstrokes, using color for definition, forgoing the usual layered paint. Canvases are complete in about two hours as light changes rapidly.
The Grand Canyon Association issued an invitation to DeLong to compete in the inaugural Plein Air on the Rim contest in 2009, and he will participate again in the 2nd Annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art this month. DeLong has won many awards in past years and is gaining momentum. Early this year, he earned a People’s Choice win at the Small Gems show in Mesa with Fishing Glen Canyon as well as Third Place for Study of Canyon Portal at the 2010 Arizona Plein Air Painters Annual Members Show. Last year, he won Best of Show and sold all three of his paintings in this same contest.
DeLong’s traditional landscapes are his passion—revealed by the works in his gallery. In Flat Iron District, a building that stands at a fork in the road in Jerome is the focal point. The terracotta structure glows with a cross-hatch quality while the long, vertical brushwork of the sky fades from denim into blush. “I appreciate subtle refinement and a good design to begin with. But really great artists don’t try to paint objects, they try to paint light and how it reflects the topography…how it blankets shapes. Light unifies and beautifies a scene.” Regarding his brushwork, DeLong said, “I’m conscious of directional strokes, how I lay paint down, and the brush lift-off or edge it leaves behind.”
Artists paint for themselves, but in the end, they hope to sell their pieces to people who will appreciate them. DeLong considers this as he works. “I think about the livability of my work in someone’s home over the long term. Subtle variety and unexpected color changes give the collector a lot to discover. It creates a dialogue between the collector and the piece over time.”
DeLong said he feels blessed to be at a place in his career after nearly three decades where he can afford to do what he enjoys. “I paint because it’s a huge part of my identity. My only plan is to paint ‘til I drop.” NAMLM
Gail G. Collins
Find Cody DeLong at Merchants Gathering, 300 Hull St. Jerome, Arizona