Wolfdog copyright 2001 by Dave Putnam

Crossing a wolf and a dog is not a good idea. The result is a powerful animal that is not afraid of people (like a dog) and has a wolf's sense of pack hierarchy; which is to say the wolfdog may consider himself alpha over a human and might fight to prove it. This life-size sculpture is made of stainless steel and nickel wire. It looks exactly like a wolfdog but since it is immobile it cannot kill you (unless it fell right on top of you from a 20 story building). Rather than buy an actual wolfdog, satisfy that wild urge with a wolfdog sculpture. I originally started making wolfdog sculptures with the hope that folks would forgo the flesh and blood animal in favor of the metal one. However, I end up selling them to people that own actual wolfdogs. They love both the living ones and the metal ones. The lesson here is that human nature is not predictable.

Aquatic Nursery copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

Aquatic Nursery is supposed to show the creation of new life underwater. Of course most life on Earth is in the waters and the health of the planet is more dependent on the sea than on land. We humans are more closely linked to the ocean than commonly supposed. Your blood, for instance, has the same percentage of salt as the sea, a reflection of where we came from originally. And think about those seafaring Irishmen who populated the entire planet. There are many reasons why none of us would exist without the ocean.

Luck of the Irish II copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

This painting is based on my 3-year old niece Clara, who is starting to show all the signs of extreme good luck that her teenage cousin Megan has exhibited for years. One example: she dropped an ice cream cone and it landed upright, balancing like a tightrope walker for several seconds before the toddler picked it up. The odds against this happening are probably a million to one.

As far as the color scheme, the green represents Ireland and the yellowish gold represents the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that Irishmen are famous for. This painting lacks some of the elements of Luck of the Irish I (based on super lucky Megan Putnam) because Clara is only 25% Irish and therefore has to prove herself before she gets a painting with all the bells and whistles. But even with this relatively small amount of Irish blood it is possible that Clara will become as lucky as Megan. Every child on Earth has this potential and here's why:

Every human on Earth is at least part Irish because in prehistoric times seafaring explorers from the emerald isle helped populate every inhabited continent. This is why some folks from Africa have red hair despite the fact their families have always lived in Africa. Clara's extraordinary good luck is a hopeful sign to those of us who are only part Irish. Even a tiny drop of Irish blood can generate tremendous good luck if we embrace our Irish heritage. This is true for everybody on the planet from Eskimos to Tibetans.

Martha And Dave Comment On Life

To the left we have Happy Hereford copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam. The subject of this painting is a steer that has acres of land to roam on full of tender shoots of grass. Truckloads of fresh hay will materialize the instant the grass is gone. There are no wolves or predators anywhere close by. The steer's image expresses extreme contentment.
Below we have Owl in Flight copyright 2000 by Dave Putnam. This sculpture shows an owl swooping in for a kill. He is very happy. Owls and cows have diametrically opposed world views. The message here is happiness comes from fulfilling your true nature. Maybe you are a professional prizefighter and hitting people makes you unhappy. Probably your true nature is more like the Happy Hereford and less like the owl. In this case you should switch careers.

Humans Are Servants To Dogs.

To the left is Brindle copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam. The dog's soulful eyes create a haunting feeling as we wonder as to the depths of canine intelligence. The humans on our planet do all the work while our pets laze around in the lap of luxury. A visitor from another planet would conclude that dogs are the master and humans the servant. Deep down we know there is a chance this is true. This painting is on display in Sante Fe at akhoundre@aol.com

Two Underwater viewpoints

To the left we have Green Depth copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam. Here I am trying to show what it looks like to be twenty feet underwater and looking up at your surf board while a shark circles hungrily.
Below we have Zip copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam. Zip is a field trials bred lab who can maneuver underwater like a sea lion. If you had his aquatic abilities then being submerged that far next to a shark would be a piece of cake. Again we see that human beings are sometimes lacking in the evolutionary cards that life deals us.

Water copyright 2010 by Dave Putrnam

The idea here is to show all aspects of water in one painting, sort of taking the concept of Cubism to an existential level. In other words not just showing one object at different angles but different fundamental characteristics of that object in one frame. I'm trying to show rain, snow, mist, surface level water, and the depth of a body of water, all at once.