Dizzybear Creations: Apple Picking, Coffee Pot Senoritas

The last couple of days I've been doing a bunch of metal work, working on preparing a bunch of metal pieces to make into a batch of silverware windchimes. I usually try and do something different after finishing a painting to give my eyes a rest before starting the next one. In the last couple of days I spend working on a painting, I'm usually up really close putting in so many final touches of detail that I get really bad eyestrain. One of these days I'll break down and get glasses. Everyone in my family, both sides, wears glasses or contacts, so it's amazing I've made it this long without having to get a pair myself.

I always enjoy the process of making the windchimes. I collect parts and pieces all year long, and once or twice a year I spread everything out all over the studio and spend a week working up as much of it as possible. My studio is usually in a constant state of chaos, it's how I work best, but during the week that I work on windchimes, it's especially bad. I'll leave myself little paths and the rest of the studio will be a sea of brass, silverware, glass pieces, wire, beads..... it's a beautiful mess. I always feel bad for my neighbors during windchime week though, as I'm often out in the yard pounding on the anvil for hours on end, making all sorts of noise.

I really love doing metal work. The grinding, the sparks, the pounding of metal into different shapes.... it's all so much fun. I bought myself a Pneumatic Planishing Hammer, thinking it could help me pound out the silverware flat, but it turned out to not be strong enough for that. Which is good, because half the fun of making the windchimes is working on the anvil. Today I realized I could use earbud style headphones under the industrial ear muffs I wear to protect my hearing, so I'm sure I was extra loud in the back yard today, albeit, a bit more rhythmic in my pounding on the anvil. Louder because I found myself singing a lot though. Sorry neighbors! It wasn't a cat being hammered on an anvil, it was just me singing while pounding on the anvil. Of the many albums I listened to today, I'd say the soundtrack of the movie Juno was the best music to anvil to.

I'll be posting pictures of the windchimes I'm working on in future blogs.

The painting I finished though, is the one I mentioned in last week's blog. It ended up taking a few extra days to finish, as there were some changes I wanted to make. It's definitely some of my best work and I cant wait to release it. I let Michel see it a few days ago, the final test of any of my paintings, and let him attempt to tear it apart. He didn't have a lot to say about this one. The shadowing on part of it was a little off, and I had too much detail on one part, both easy fixes. That's usually what Michel helps with most, pointing out shadowing and perspective problems. I'm happy to have his help. Thanks Michel!!!!

The featured paintings this week are "Apple Picking" and "Coffee Pot Senoritas".

As I've mentioned, I usually dont have a lot of time to paint, but during a 6 month stay in Montreal in 2012, I was able to paint 16 paintings.

“Apple Picking” was the 7th of the 16 paintings of 2012. I had been going to Montreal pretty steady since 2009, and had already seen and done most everything there was to be seen or do in the city, as I would spend most of my time there playing tourist. It's a great city, but it was starting to feel like a chore trying to find new things to see and do every day, which is why I set out to start painting again after nearly a three year hiatus from painting. I matched my painting schedule with Michel's work schedule, and would just paint and paint while he was out of the apartment and I had all that time alone. Often times continuing to paint into the evenings, or on weekends if the weather was bad or we had nothing to do. I did still take many breaks and day trips with friends, and one such welcome break was an apple picking excursion in Rougemont with close friends.

Rougemont is a cute little town just 45 minutes out of Montreal. Lots of apple orchards, cider and ice wine tasting rooms, farms, but everything does seem to center around apples. Ice Cider is amazing, if you haven't had the chance to try it, make sure you do. It's a dessert wine, originating in Southern Quebec. Sometimes labelled as Ice Wine when sold in the US.

To make the Ice Cider, the apples are harvested from the trees at the peak of ripeness and kept in cold storage until the onset of consistently cold winter temperatures. The apples are then juiced and set outdoors to freeze for 6 or more weeks. The freezing and melting off process creates a concentrated juice at the bottom of the vats that is naturally high in sugar and flavor, and from this the ice cider is fermented. It usually takes about 8 pounds of apples to make one 375 ml bottle of Ice Cider/Wine.

On this particular apple picking excursion, we went to the Michel Jodoin Cidrerie, took their tour and did a cider and wine tasting. Then crossed the street and picked apples in an orchard. With which I baked up several apple pies when we got back to the apartment. I have two sisters and mom taught me right along side of them how to bake, cook, sew, crochet, knit, and all those other things mothers used to teach daughters. I make a good apple pie, but they were even better with these apples.

Another thing I liked to do when I needed to take a break from painting, was go shopping at thrift stores and vintage clothes stores all over the city. I'm a big guy, 50 x-tall in a jacket, so finding clothes that will fit anywhere is often a chore, even more difficult in thrift stores and vintage stores. While in a thrift store on one of those days that I was needing a break, I found a tweed jacket that fit me perfect. I had always wanted a jacket like this, so I was even more excited when I saw it was only 10 bucks. Spent a lot more on a matching hat from a chapellerie (hat store) downtown a few days later. I didn't wear the outfit when we went apple picking, but finding this jacket seemed like something that needed to be in a painting!

5x7 Apple Picking Matted Prints <click here>

8x10 Apple Picking Matted Prints <click here>

11x14 Apple Picking Matted Prints <click here>

The second featured painting this week is "Coffee Pot Senoritas". Part of this paintings history can be found in my first blog, and can be read by clicking here.

As I mentioned in last week's blog, the gallery that sells most of my artwork and jewelry, Sedona Green, originally wanted to specialize in Sedona, AZ themed items, and originally only stocked my Day of the Dead paintings as a temporary space filler after moving to a larger location. They ended up selling so well though, that the prints remained. To make the owner happy, and as a thank you for keeping the prints in the gallery, I painted four dia de los muertos paintings with Sedona backgrounds.

Coffee Pot Rock is one of my favorite rock formations in Sedona. I've lived in Northern Arizona for 37 years now, and remember this rock formation looking a lot more like an old fashioned percolator style, stove top coffee pot. Over the last nearly 4 decades, the rock has been subjected to some weathering and rock cleavage, so it doesn't look quite as much like a percolator these days. I often wonder if younger people even know what percolators are. I haven't seen one myself in over 20 years, other than the one I use. Maybe they should change the name to "Espresso Pot Rock". The Italian style stove top espresso makers look a bit like percolators, and are still in use by many. Myself included. I do love caffeine, probably why I dont sleep much. hehe.

There's a great trail around the base of Coffee Pot Rock. I dont get as much time to hike these days as I used to, but it is a favorite hike of mine. When friends and family come for visits, I usually take them on two hikes, around the base of Coffee Pot Rock for the views, and then we'll go climb Cathedral Rock. I really need to find more free time, I miss hiking.

Most of my free time these days goes to playing roller hockey. Which I love playing. I only started learning how to skate about a year ago, but the other night while playing, one of the guys on the other team exclaimed "F#@$ing Dennis, he's getting good enough to be a damned pain in the ass". This of course has absolutely nothing to do with art, or anything I make, but it made me super happy to hear that, as I've been working hard at getting better at this sport. I play with a group of guys that have been playing for years and years, and are quite good, so hearing that definitely felt awesome, as I often feel like I get in the way, or slow the game down. I still have a long way to go, but it's been a lot of fun so far. I really should find some time and go hike around Coffee Pot though. It's been too long.

Prints of all the paintings shown here in this blog are available at the webstore.

"Coffee Pot Senoritas" is on sale this week for 50% off. It is available as a series of specially reprinted, limited edition, hand signed and numbered prints. Limited to a series of only 10.

You can see the other limited edition prints by clicking here or visiting http://dizzybearcreations.storenvy.com and clicking on the "Special Edition Prints" link on the left hand side.

"Apple Picking" is available in 3 different sizes and is also discounted for one week only.

Two more paintings next week! Thank you again for sharing my artwork/posts with friends that you think would like my artwork, on your social media accounts: Facebook, twitter, blogger, pinterest, tumblr, ello....

It is INCREDIBLY helpful in getting my artwork out in the world, and is greatly appreciated.

As a little thank you to those who've been reading this blog, when I start releasing the paintings in March, I'll be beginning a trivia contest, asking questions that you'll be able to find the answers to in my blogs. There will be more details coming in March.