Natural Killer Cell I copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

This painting is the first in a series depicting the human immune system's Natural Killer Cells (NKC). Our immune system is a vast and complicated army with many different types of warriors. The most powerful warriors are NKCs which are colored blue. A cluster of cancer cells is colored green and somewhat resembles a weed. The two largest blue cells are injecting dark blue venom into the cancer cluster. And a smaller (more distant) blue cell near the top is "bombing" the cancer cluster with shrapnel.

Here is a detail showing the small blue cell bombing the cancer cells with tiny blue blobs, which tear apart the green weed (cancer cluster). The purpose of this painting and the ones I will put up over the next few days is to help cancer patients visualize the offensive occuring inside their bodies and to marshal their own natural defenses.

Dawn of Hope copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

This is another in the Hope series, where the subject matter is eradicating HIV. In this painting I am trying to show the global nature of the effort against the virus. The three Miracle of Hope paintings are finding their way onto scientific blogs. Hope is going viral. Here are two science blogs featuring the Hope paintings:
cirmresearch.blogspot.com
http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/archives/hivaids

English Bulldog I copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

This is the first in Martha's English Bulldog series. People who own English Bulldogs slowly acquire many of their pet's traits, such as stubborness, a high threshold to pain, and a stoic nature. These are all good traits so the painting is designed to reinforce this tendency. In other words if you owned this painting and a bulldog you would recieve a double dose of stubborness.

Happy Grazing copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

This steer is half Angus and half Hereford. His mixed lineage gives him hybrid vigor and a strong survival instinct, qualities that shine through in this painting. The background story for the portrait: There have been mountain lion citings near his pasture. A more pampered and pedigreed steer would be nervous and off his feed. The white-faced Angus scoffs at such concerns and gorges himself with a devil-may-care attitude. We humans can learn a life lesson from this humble hybrid.

Spring copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

I'm getting ready to paint horses. This painting doesn't have horses in it but it does capture the essence of Spring. Horses love spring more than any other season. So I warmed up for my horse painting by channeling and painting Spring; this put me in a horse-like mood. Only a few yards from my canvas there are two powerful Quarterhorse geldings. I am now channeling them. I am ready to paint but have an uncontrollable desire to eat a bucket of oats. I am putting down my brushes to cook a pot of oatmeal. Incidentally, the Wire Horse won the survey.

Wire Horse I and Cave Horse I copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

I am entering a competition for horse paintings. Here are two rough drafts that go in different directions. The bottom one is based on cave art. I ate raw meat for two days before starting this painting. The top one is based on my wire sculptures, so I had to channel an earlier version of myself to make this painting. This was harder to do than it sounds. Anyway, which of of these two do you like better?

Zoe copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

Different people see different things in Martha's portraits. For me this painting shows a teenage feline caught betweeen adult cathood and kittenhood. The internal conflicts that boil inside human teenagers also bubble and churn within young cats and also require special attention. If this were my cat I would give it a bowl of milk to help moderate mood swings.

Black Belt Restrained copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

I know two people with expert level martial arts credentials: Michael Putnam and Roger williams. Folks trained to this level are always very pacifistic in their day to day lives. Of course simmering below the zen-like calm is a seething tiger. In this painting I try to show the inner tiger that the outside world can't see.

Giraffe copyright 1999 by Dave Putnam

The spiral pattern that the wires form in this sculpture is called a "God's Eye" by African artists. When I make a sculpture of an African animal I also like to borrow design elements from African artists. Western artists have been borrowing (or stealing) from African artists for decades. Most of the big name 20th century artists did it, such as Henry Moore and Picasso. It would be nice if folks at least aknowledged where they are stealing ideas, as I am doing right now.

English Bulldog II copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

This is the second in Martha's English Bulldog series. For centuries the English Bulldog would do battle with an opponent up to 40 or 50 times his weight: the English bull. The courage required to tackle such an opponent was so great that it aquired a mystical quality and become a sort of force all by itself. Even though the English Bulldog of today cannot physically perform the ancient task of bull-baiting, he may carry a mystical dose of courage and Martha's painting immortalizes that quality.

Brady and James copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

Here Martha and I are trying to capture the essence of the Hughes family of San Francisco. The bottom two portraits are Martha's rendition of the three year twin boys: Brady and James. I try to capture the essence of the Hughes family with the top painting: Hawaiian Volcano. Hopefully with all this painting effort, the Hughes family is well and truly captured on canvas.

Anne's Rainforest copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

I was halfway through this painting when Anne's husband, my brother Marty, said in effect that I was doing a bad job of channeling Anne. I had been focusing on this "little Miss Sunshine" vision of Anne, which totally ignores the fact that she is one of those rare women with the ability to beat the crap out of 99% of all men. Probably only a few professional cage fighters could stand up to her. For instance, if I were to get in a fight with Anne she would beat me like a rented mule. Of course this meant my painting had to be scary and threatening, with a potential for violence without an active expression of violence, like a thunderstorm before lightning strikes. Anne could beat up almost anybody she meets, but almost always chooses not to. So I changed the painting and made it terrifying.
The downside to such honest and raw art is that probably nobody will have the courage to display this painting in their house. The mojo behind a woman beating up a man is too much for the average American male to stomach. But at least I was true to my craft and didn't sell out.

Katie's Rainforest copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

Before starting this painting I channeled my teenage niece, Katie. I tried to envision a pristine tropical wilderness through her eyes. Because she has an optimistic nature and is unsullied by the travails of a longer life, Katie's view of the future is crisp and clean, unlike my view of the future which is dark and brooding. I would show the rainfoerst being torched.
This is my second in the rainforest series. I am working on a third rainforest painting currently. It is entitled "Anne's Rainforest." Anne is Katie's mom. Even though Anne is my age and has lived a much harder life, her view of the world is as positive as her daughter's, but more detailed and complicated. If not for my ability to channel these sunnier souls all my paintings would be dark and menacing.

Sitting Gorilla copyright 2002 by Dave Putnam

Over the years I have made over 100 sculptures of gorillas. Unlike humans and chimps, gorillas do not wage war against other bands, or commit murder against members of their own band, or torture their enemies. Like humans, gorillas don't really have natural enemies but they refuse to substitute their own kind as enemies as humans and chimps do. Because they are morally superior beings and still very closely related to us, I can never make too many gorilla sculptures. They are, as Abraham Lincoln once said in reference to peaceful humans, the better angels of our nature.

Yorkie copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

To the left is a painting of Chester, a Yorkshire Terrier. Martha captures the hardiness and vitality of this scrappy little dog, belying the image of pampered purse pet. After all Yorkies are terriers, bred to kill rats. In WW II a Yorkie named Smoky earned 8 combat stars by warning his human squad mates when incoming shells were approaching their foxholes. Smoky even had his own customized parachute and went on numerous fighter sorties with the Pacific Army Air Corp. Just as we shouldn't prejudge people, we shouldn't prejudge dogs. Some little dogs are tough and some big dogs are sissies.