Jasper Jewelry

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Some new pieces of jewelry.   Both are Jasper and I love that it comes in different colors.  The bottom is rainbow jasper:  so pretty and versatile.   I have another bracelet to do tonight in a dark levi  blue Jasper....  The top photo is a bracelet, anklet and necklace....and I love the silver dangles ...  I don't particularly like  SW jewelry so the dangles and design take that "edge" off the bracelet as the Jasper is close to turquoise in appearance/color.  

Suitcase

Miss Pru has been acting "different" the past few days...  Those who have dogs/cats/etc. that they are close to will know what I am talking about when I say she acted different and also as I continue.

(Yes, we should have named her Kay Leno, lol.)

We are leaving for a month and flying to the East Coast the beginning of June.    My suitcase is laying on the floor so I can pack leisurely and make sure I have what I want and need and so have been adding things as I think about them...

Tonight when Pru and I came into the bedroom she was prancing all over and for the life of me I couldn't understand what she wanted until she went and stood in front of the suitcase.   I went into the closet and brought out "her" suitcase (yes, she is going with us, spoiled child that she is) and when I laid it down beside mine she  put her "busy bone" inside as if she wanted me to pack hers.....  So.... I went back to the living room for her ball, and some of her chicken treats ... put them inside and she is all content.  She just wanted to remind me that she WAS going and needed to pack HER suitcase so that wherever mine went hers would go also.   LOL   I swear, I never knew a dog and a human could communicate until my daughter gave us this dog for Christmas the year we moved here to Bend...when she was just old enough to leave her mother....(My daughter has the Mom and Dad..."Cookie" and Lei
Lei).....  She goes pretty much wherever we go and with Oregon being a highly pet friendly town.... her
"attendance" is accepted cheerfully....

I even purchased her a salmon colored sequin little T shirt like outfit with is just covered with "bling" topped off with a big flower for the trip....  I did it for more of a joke than anything but I am sure there will be those who don't know the story that will be chuckling and thinking "that lady is NUTS" but I have paid my dues and I am allowed a few idocycracies....don't ya' think?

As I continue to pack suitcases I will make sure I add something to Pru's.... her baby receiving blanket,
treats, the fall thrower, water bottle so I remember to fill it,  a couple changes of clothes, and her leash.  Then I can transfer everything to my suitcase when it is time to leave.

Blue Skies

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Beautiful BLUE , BLUE skies and WHITE, WHITE clouds.  

Jewelry

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam
The past two days have been cold, overcast, rainy, and miserable.    Since I knew better to actually be out "in" the weather I stayed inside...took my anti-inflammatories, ice pack, elevelated my foot, and tried to keep everything under control.......  What better time to put together some jewelry without feeling guilty as there are things I NEED to be doing.....

I have a blouse that matches the first bracelet....and have had the beads for quite awhile so decided to get the bracelet done.

The necklace and bracelet set is neutral and although simple....pretty.  The clasp which is a flower is on the side of the necklace instead of the back , and I offset the bracelet a bit too.  The stones are from overseas and were predrilled so the wire wrapping is what took the longest...  I have a Tierra Cast ladybug on both the necklace and the bracelet.....

Art Happens

Today was a lazy kind of day ....  I have been helping my daughter with some yard work and was pretty sore today so decided to take the day off.... and about 9:00 PM....out of the blue,  I decided I wanted to make myself a necklace for vacation in neutral colors......and something simple...  Out came the needle nose pliers, headpins, some predrilled beach stones from overseas, and some new bronze, copper and silver spacer beads that I picked up recently on sale...somewhere.... that I felt would work in well with the theme of neutral and nature-y.    The necklace is completed and I really like how it turned out...with no pre-conceived ideas of what it would look like...until I began and had a few pieces in place.  After I finished I liked the necklace so much I decided to make a matching bracelet.   I have started it and will finish it up tomorrow night (hopefully) and can post pictures.

Lately it has seemed as if "creating" has become a spur of the moment type thing.  Earlier in the afternoon I went downstairs and basecoated a 5 x 7 canvas board so that I could begin the "Reflections" piece using the photo I took and posted yesterday as inspiration.  Since I really like 
Burnt Sienna I did a slip slap with this color and Soft White (Liquitex Soft Body Paints) and it is ready for me to begin the actual painting.  One of the pictures I took has the aspen tree trunks in the picture as well as the branch of green leaves so I have decided I will paint in trunks which will add just a bit of substance....  Where the lighter almost white "sunlight" areas of the photo which are also apparent in my slip slap I am going to use some of Americana's Glamour Dust Paints in teh Crystal Ice just to add some sparklies....as you sometimes see in sunlight.  This will be my "trial" piece and then I will make adjustments and increase to an 8 x 8 canvas as I want it to be square.  Will have to do some going through stash to find a frame....and depending upon the frame size I choose will determine if I mat or leave as is in the frame.  

Everything here in Bend is beginning to flower and the town is becoming much more colorful so nature seems to be my inspriation for art related pieces.......

My Husbands' Art

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

My husband loves rustic, old yard art and enjoys using scrubs, flowers, trees to accentuate one another.
Our front yard has become a bit of a redneck garden.....  My husband purchased this roadster in an Oregon junkyard.  He added an old childs wagon to the back above the bumper which fits in nicely and has planted shrubbery in this piece.  In the very front where the engine would go are four shrubs....for a 4 banger...  Since I LOVE rusty, his pieces bring me a lot of joy and we get a lot of folks who stop and take photos....each for their own sentimental / personal reasons be it "how neat" or these people are "half a bubble off"....  LOL ....  I will have to update this picture as everything in a year or two has grown and each has become a part of the other...

Artistic Reflections

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

As I was leaving my daughters house the other day, and TRYING to turn around a sharp 45 degree turn and hitting new logs put down (and debarking)  for lovely landscaping below this photo (sorry Michelle and Chris) this reflection of Aspen Trees was on the house siding.  With just a bit of green leaves to show what is being reflected I had to stop and snap a few photos....art is everywhere...caused by just about everything.  This has quickly become one of my favorite photos and just may be painted or watercolored on canvas.

Mixed Media Delight

There is a neat little Thrift Store in Sunriver, OR (where my daughter and her family live) which is only open 2 half days per week; and I seem to always "score" neat "stuff" for mixed media.

When I took this up to pay for the bag, the clerk looked at me and said, "do you really want this" and I just chuckled inside knowing she was not an artist......  I replied that I did mixed media art and these were "prizes" for me.  She replied "than this is your lucky day, cause it is 50% off"...  lol...

I am working on an altered jar and I think that there are a couple of pieces in this "stash" of sewing machine parts that might work great.

I am doing a "skeleton" and now that the main portion is done (kinda like basecoating when you are painting) I can add the embellishments (shading and highlighting).  The altered jar is a "challenge" so it may stay with me...at least for awhile.    It needs "color" so I am thinking that I need to go with red...

With mixed media it seems as if I create in "spurts"....  With painting I pretty much know where I will end up...but mixed media is always a surprise...

Off to check out the Etsy vendors as I need an air plant for "Boney Maroney" ... 

Manzanita (Ironwood) in Bloom

I never knew that Manzanita bloomed....  So pretty with the dark reddish bark and dark green leaves with edging of red.  Does anyone else see the blue in the flowers or is it just me?




5-13   Copyright    Diana Putnam

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Rainbow

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

I was on the top of one of the road peaks outside of Sisters, OR  when I saw this grogeous rainbow and was able to pull in to an area and get this picure.....

The rainbow was mixed with fog so it was so wonderfully mystical and somehow I will attempt a painting.....

Altered Key Garden Boxed Up

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

We were to do altered key(s) for this swap.....so mine ended up to be a floral key garden .... and a cigar box was used as the substrate.  I enjoyed this swap and it went together pretty easily and once again totally different from what I had originally decided upon.  I added a handle so that the box could more easily be opened.

I have to get busy on the next one which is to be an altered jar.

Lilacs

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Lilacs are another of my favorite flowers and this year my lilac bush is FINALLY producing some......  and I am delighted that they are the DARK red / purple ones....  Our soil here in Bend, and especially down in DRW where we live is pretty much volcanic ash and rock so to get ANYTHING to grow is short of a miracle.

This year I am going to do container gardening in hopes that I might have better results.

Rhodos

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Up in the Corvallis, Oregon area the rodos are just gorgeous.  The bushes are huge, the colors are vibrant, and so many different colors.  This is one of my favorite photos because of the depth I was able to create in the photograph, the textures and the sense of peace it seems to bring.

This bush seems to be of a varigated variety.

I am going to paint from this photo because I love the composition and have NO idea how it will end up looking which is part of the fun.

Rusty Art

On my way home from Corvallis I stopped at an Art Gallery (closed) and their outdoor art was fantaastic so I spent a few minutes taking photos of everything in the "park area" of the site.  I love rusted metal so this was right up my alley and I wish I would have had time to "Really" take pictures.  Everything outside was neat, clean, GREEN, and just lovely.

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Tumalo Falls

5-13 Copyright    Diana Putnam

Although these falls are within 30 miles of where we live, and we have been here 10 years we have never taken the time to see these falls......so yesterday time was made.   I walked the uphill 1/4 mile jaunt to get to the top of the falls to take this particular photo and it was well worth the stop and go climb......  Gorgeous falls.

If you would like to see more photos which were taken of the area please go to:  http://www.picturetrail.com/artisticrenderings........ ALL of my photos on the blog and PT are my personal photos so please respect copyright.

Several of the photos will be used for reference material for paintings....  as soon as I feel comfortable with rock portion it will be on to the water.....another area of study....  Color, brushes, techniques, form,
scale, etc.

Make your own lessons....do your own thing.....and learn it your way.

Artistic License

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

This painting (almost finished) was painted using the same photo as the painting in the previous post....BUT I used a little more artistic license and put in an asphalt road leading into a parking lot.

I have never painted a "road" before so I want to to do a bit more research, flyspeck the rocks and the road area, Bring the grasses up a bit more on the right bottom, and then I think I might be able to label it done,,,but then again it might need just a little outline of a chipmunk on the rocks where they like to scurry around and amongst..and last just a bit more shading and highlighting here and there.

Once again I used Liquitex soft body paints, FM Dynasty/Black Gold Brushes and handmade canvas  boards in portrait grade.

It is really fun to see where the brush takes me when I paint....

Mountain Meadow by Diana Putnam

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

This is one of my latest paintings.  The inspiration comes from photos I take here in Oregon.  Sometimes I use artistic license and other times I paint as close as I can to the photo.   I am nearly finished with one just a bit bigger than this one and it is totally different although I have used the same photo....on the new one artistic license took over...

I work in acrylics and my preference is Liquitex soft body paints and I really enjoy brush mixing paints vs premixed bottled paints.  It is much more fun....and more rewarding.  BUT...this is preference not something that is mandatory.    Brush choice is FM Dynasty/Black Gold brushes, (Designer,  IPC and Faux Squirrel series). My canvas boards are portrait grade canvas boards which are hand made.  I also paint what "I" like vs what might be "in" and tend to ignore fads, in colors, etc. the majority of the time.  I also prefer to work a bit smaller than the majority of fine art artists who paint major size pieces....

If you look back in my blog just a bit you will see and recognize the photo I used with the Post Title of
Snapshot...

Simple Life

Sometimes it is the simple life that appeals to me as an artist and comes across in this photo I took that is on my way to town the back way.  So much to be seen "different" on this road if people would take the time to look and more importantly SEE.  

This will probably be the inspiration for one of my future paintings.  

Altered Key Swap 'The Growing Season"

5/13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

This is the beginning layout for an altered key swap.....and has already changed and grown a bit more than this photo from Friday.  

Sometimes when I get started a piece just doesn't look as "finished" as I would like so I keep going.  

I will need to look for a substrate for this design and I am contemplating the use of a cigar box which is a nice shape and size....  not to mention useful.

This piece consists of a lot of tiny buttons which I sell... and a mixture of brass and silver components.   I  am enjoying this swap a lot .. and have in mind to jazz it up a bit with the background....  

I have found that laying out my design somewhere on a tray, magazine, table, etc. and beginning the design works well for me....and I find that as I go into the room where this particular piece is laid out I try something different, add to or take away an element, etc. until I feel that I have it the way I want it.  I am sure that everyone is different when it comes to their "processing" a piece but I kinda like to plan it out.  It helps for proportion of items to one another, color(s), a theme if none is provided, etc.   I think I am just about ready to get busy and get this one together....  I will show a finshed photo at a later day.

Bloomin' 4 x 4

This is my finished 4 x 4 mixed media piece for a swap on a group I belong to.  The theme was Bloomin",  the size was to be 4 x 4.  Keeping in mind that the receiver might use the piece for a Chunky Book, we were told to leave some margin room on one side.  The top picture was where I started...and thought I was done...but it totally lacked mixed media so......the bottom picture is how
it finished up.  A strawberry blossom and I am sorry that the "hanging from the bottom enamel colored red strawberry charm on a gold chain cannot be seen.  Just another to add a  different "touch" to the piece.  It was fun to take the painting into a different aspect of art.  I used quite a few different elements to add texture, movement, dimension and some feathers from one of Ely's artistic suppliers....her birds.

For the Birds

5-13  COPYRIGHT   Diana Putnam

My camera has been clicking.....I love this picture....the colors of this bird and the background along with the rough wood from the top of our bird house.... How can someone NOT look at this picture and see beauty?    There is so much we can learn from nature....

What a gorgeous picture to paint?

One of the hardest things to do when you are painting from a photo is to get size correct when you up or downsize.  Sometimes it is beneficial to have photos enlarged until you learn and master
proportion, size, etc. to the size of what you are painting.

This is a Cowbird.

Mt. Batchelor Bend, OR

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

This was taken just a few minutes from our house...  I stopped several times alongside the road to take different photos...this is one of my favorites and it turned out exactly as I had hoped it would.  I have gotten to the point where I carry a small 35mm in my purse...there are so many priceless shots to be
"be had"....

Material = Trouble ??

When I am in JoAnnes, Hancock Fabrics, etc. I always have to browse the aisles looking and touching.  I have always loved coloful. soft, drapey fabrics.  Today on my way home from town I decided to stop in a Quilting/Sewing Machine store and see what might be there.....I should never have done that BUT....... I got some really neat design fabrics.  They had and were selling "knots" of fabric, small fat squares and larger ones.

I bought some awesome Cat designed material by artist Laurel Bush.  It was a fat quarter and I am going to use it and some orange swirled material and cover a journal for my granddaughter.  

I am looking forward to using material in my mixed media pieces....and even if I have to sew it is nothing that really HAS to fit like a dress so I am thinking I can do it.  I will need to find my sewing machine and get it "set up" so it is ready to go in a moments' notice as well as an iron and ironing board.  I may need to look for a small "sleve" vs a whole big ironing board.

Tonight I have to finish up my blossom 4 x 4 swap....which is ending up being a steampunky type
design.  I hope my partner will like it.

My altered key is laid out on my dining room table and as soon as I find a substrate it will be ready to go when I receive my partners name.

I am wondering how well "knots" would sell on my Etsy site.

Tomorrow I will add some photos of designs and sizes....

My sister loves material also and this is one of her creations....A handmade lampshade.

Lucky Fluffy's Safe Rescue

The very first photo shows Fluffy at the VERY TOP of the photo almost directly in the middle.

There were a lot of long drawn out breaths as poor Fluffy knew she was to be rescued after 2 nights in the trees.....no sleep, no food, and the wind whipping through the trees on top of her predicament.

She jumped down on the roof right by Larry as he drew the limb down so it wasn't as far for him to jump from branch, to roof, to ground and land on his feet safe and sound.

Ladder

Today when I came home from town this totally awesome,  3 legged, vintage Fruit picking wood ladder;  that seems to reach to the sky with different length rungs from top to bottom was setting in the back of the garage up agains my fruitless cherry tree.   OMG but I love it .... and it is one of those items that one has to enjoy for a while.  It brings back memories of apple picking with my parents when I was small....  Dad climbed the ladder and handed the apples down to my sister and I to "crate".... now I need to find a couple of apple crates.....

Loaded

Needless to say and as you can see from the photo my fruitless cherry is LOADED...with blossoms and it has just started to bloom.....every day it explodes with more and more blossoms.  Some of the limbs even hang over and onto our garage roof the limbs are so heavy.   

Enjoy spring everyone.

Little Surprises

These little "gems" have a way of hiding like a mushroom in the forest.  Nested in pine needles underneath a shrubbery type pine tree....  Now I know about when to go look for this delightful 
flower.  Love the way I can zoom in for sharp and clear  yet with a blurred/mottled background.  

5-2013  Copyright    Diana Putnam

Ahhhhhh Spring

5-13   Copyright   Diana Putnam

Over the past few days my fruitless cherry has gone from green to pink, white and green....

Every year I go take photos.  My husband thinks I am crazy....if you have seen a cherry blossom you have seen one and don't need to see it again.  He misses soooo much.  And then if I paint a picture of it....he really thinks I have gone overboard.  

Look at the different degress of "open ness", the color variances,  the calyx as it wraps around the bud that looks like a minature rose,,,,and the jagged light edges of the leaves....  There is so much to see...not to mention the delightful aroma..not over powering .... just sensual, romantic and gorgeous.  I guess this is why nature is my favorite subject to paint as it is living beauty...

Oregon the Beautiful

5-13  Copyright    Diana Putnam

I am "pretty sure" that this will be my next photo that I will use to inspire a painting....  I am working up to some gorgeous photos I have taken at Smith Rocks which is outside Bend about 50 miles that I have wanted to paint for several years but knew I wassn't ready....hopefully in a couple more months, a couple more paintings and I will be willing to give it a try.  This photo was taken of the Deshutes Ruver leading towards Benham falls which is about 10 miles from us going south.  The water is REALLY this blue and I just love walking along the river to the falls.  So many
painting challenges....

Snapshot

5-13   Copyright    Diana Putnam  

This is a photo I took several months ago that is my inspiration for a painting I am doing... and the photo is one that I took of a portion of the Cascade Mt. range here in Bend, OR.    I love the way the tree limbs frame out the photo...and the rocks were going to be my "challenge" in painting.  This is a rocky area so many photos I have taken are rocky and despite numerous watchings of Jerry Yarnell videos I think I can do it... but using my favorite brushes vs the ones he uses... and I have a tendency to use brushes smaller than the area I am painting rather than larger than the area as most other artists' do.  Guess it is kinda on the way to my own technique in doing things.... changes I make. IE:  with this picture there will be more snow on the mountain as it is actually the point of view for this piece as is the meadow and actually I think the rocks are too so there are many things to look at..... Look at the depth in this photo...  It is a painting that requires a LOT of brush mixing of paint colors to obtain this effect as well as the feeling of being up high and lookig down into the fleeting glimpse of meadow.  I have finished the 4 x 6

canvas and have moved up to a larger size so that I could accentuate some areas a bit more.  The other "thing" is that each painting; although of the same aea, will look different in some way.... takes away from the cookie cutter effect of things,  and with brush mixing matching colors sameness is really impossible but what a wonderful learning experience.   

I am using Liquitex soft body acrylic paints.  I have tried several different brands of paint, surfaces, etc.

and have it narrowed down to my favorites....narrowing things down has been easier going on my own so to speak rather than following "directions" of what works for someone else.  I am a very tight painter

so I have had to learn how to paint loose with a tight style.  So how is that for achieving my own ones-ness.   It is such a rewarding feeling to paint effortlessly... and not struggle unless I am learning how to paint something I have not painted before .... as it was with the rocks for this painting.  

Pond Garden Update

Our garage sales are beginning and today was the first one I have gone to and I am sure glad I did, although my husband probably wishes I had stayed home.  This is a brass childs crib that I couldn't walk away from to use in the Pond Garden.. along with a LARGE round galvanized tub, some tiny little mini barn pulls that will be great for hanging things.... a rusty old pail, and a neat little bookcase.  It was just one of those garage sales that you are glad you went to...  I want to start planting....

We need to paint our porch and railing so I am trying really hard to change the color of the railing from the drabby old brown to a Black Plum color to just add a bit of zip to the color..  I am not sure if I am winning my husband over or not....  Our house is 2 shades of yellow.... and I think I will try to plant flowers which are these colors mainly; with some pops of maybe red....  mainly because I LOVE geraniums and I am NOT into pink....

I say all of this as I sit with my left leg elevated with an ice pack nurturing some broken bones somewhere in the toe area of my foot.... which I hink involves the bottom and the top of my foot from the looks of things,,,and I have no reccolection of hitting my toes hard enough to do this....  Crazy.  I will have some down time to do some not guilty on line computer surrfing for inspirations in flower colors, accent pieces,  succulents, fairy houses etc. and a list of things to look for at garage sales.  

l

Bye Bye Pond..... : > ( to : > ))

This area USED to be our pond....I probably will always call it that even though it has been "filled in".... The pebble top coat went in yesterday...   I LOVE it, and it is a semi-blank palette for me, but I will miss the sound of the running water, my "froggies", the mallard ducks who would fly in and stop every year to eat, bathe, sleep and be gone the next AM.... but it needed to be so... I need to do things to make it as pretty and nice as the pond was...and my husband has promised me a water feature of some kind.   So now begins the hunt at garage sales for items that I can use to plant in that one would't normally plant in...and then determine the flower(s) that will best accentuate the piece...  Art is everywhere you look...it is not just in acrylics, watercolor, mixed media, etc.  IT IS EVERYWHERE and can be created everywhere.