Author: Diamond

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The Blue Beary Patch

10:30 am • These two bear cubs have found the perfect spot to roll around in this patch of low bush blueberries. Imagine how awesome it would feel to be rolling with your best fluffy bud in a patch of blueberries and butterflies. What a tripped out moment that would be. I created the piece to represent the joy that is happening somewhere deep in the underbrush when humans aren't there to witness it. This also answers the question of where all the blueberries disappear to.

Featured flora and fauna • Low Bush Blueberries, Eastern Tailed Butterflies, and a couple of Black Bear cubs

The Blue Beary Patch

©2019, 14” x 11”, Acrylic on Canvas. You can purchase this piece here.

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What the Bull’s Eye Perceives

9:00 am • This bull moose has found a restful cove in the midst of these showy lady slippers and spring peepers. Surrounded by the delicate beauty of moss and flowers this sweet dude ponders his day. If he were to stand you could see his tall stature, towering over the small frogs and butterflies at about 6 feet tall. Being the largest mammal of the Northwoods this critter can seem (and also be) formidable when he has to, but in general he is a gentle giant who prefers swimming and munching to fighting and conflict. He finds much of his food right here in this shady forest cove which is close enough to the marsh to have some of his favorite leafy greens. When he wants something a little different he will dive into the lake for some water greens which he will harvest from the bottom in the shallower areas. Yes, it is nice to be a moose.

Featured flora and fauna • Showy Lady Slipper, Bedstraw, White Admiral Butterfly, Moose, Nodding Bur Marigold, Spring Peepers

What the Bull's Eye Perceives

©2021, 24” x 18," Acrylic on Canvas. You can purchase this piece here.

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Prickling Through the Strawberries

Prickling Through the Strawberries

©2021, 9” x 12”, Acrylic on Canvas. You can purchase this piece here.

8:00 am • This Porcupine trundles through the strawberries surrounded by Pink-striped Oakworm Moths. It is time to start the day and with this lady's slow pace it is important she gets started early and with a good, sweet, and hearty breakfast.

Porcupines make me think of sloths. If we had sloths in the trees of the Northwoods they would be it. They are a very unique critter with their built in armor and slow pace. Their quills can give them a soft appearance from a distance but when seen up close the barbed shafts make this sweet, slow sauntering critter one to be wary of. I find the lovely contradiction to be quite relatable.

Featured flora and fauna • Wild Roses, Pink-striped Oakworm Moths, Wild Strawberries, Porcupine

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Zippy Chippy

7:30 am • The Eastern Chipmunk knows she has a busy day ahead of her so she plans accordingly to get an early start. She zips through the underbrush, crinkling and clacking all the dry leaves and twigs together, making a huge racket (forest critters or outside observers might mistake her noisy movements for a thousand deer hooves passing through). When she finds a place to rest a moment she can be spotted with full cheeks, reposing on a fallen log. There may be food or nest materials stored in those cheeks, her mission at this moment is a mystery. But either way, how nice to catch sight of this busy little lady who is finally paused, even  if for only a brief second, to give us a moment  to look and wonder.

Featured flora and fauna • Daisies, Jack O' Lantern Mushroom, Forget-Me-Nots, Wild Mint Eastern Chipmunk, The Bad-Wing Moth, Common Plantain, Dandelion

Zippy Chippy

©2021, 14” x 11”, Acrylic on Canvas. You can purchase this piece here.

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A Joyful Tide

6:45 am • Beavers are the whole package. They are tough, awesome swimmers, incredible architects, and they are cute as all get-out. They swim so fluidly that they almost seem to be floating, but I suspect it takes a lot of strength to look so graceful. This beaver has been hard at work since yesterday evening and is ready to get some rest. She heads towards home, making a peaceful retreat.

This piece was painted in the midst of the pandemic, prior to the very contentious 2020 election and during the summer's protests. It was a good time to create some joyous art. Flowing with this little lady as she came to life was a real joy. She has a nice energy and I feel like she might float right off the canvas. I am pretty certain her purpose is to give out blessings. Joyful tidings to you!

Featured flora and fauna • Beaver, Freshwater, Joy

A Joyful Tide

©2020, 8″ x 10″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. You can purchase this piece here.

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Solar Powered Songs

6:30 am • Ah, inhale. It is a lovely spring morning. The smell of the dew covered flowers mixes on the breeze and makes the whole world feel new. Even though the air is still cool the warmth of the sun portends a warm day. The American Robins act as the band leaders as they start their song and the rest of the solar powered songbirds chime in.

Featured flora and fauna • Daisies, American Robin, Wild Strawberries, Hoary Puccoon, Potentilla, Wild Blue Phlox, Crocus, Spring Peeper

Solar Powered Songs

14″ x 11″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. You can purchase it here.

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Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods

Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods opened June 4 with an awesome opening. I  I had so many great conversations, received a whole bunch of kind words, met new people and also saw many old friends🥰 Thank you for coming out! And no worries if you weren't able to make it - the show will be up through the month of June.  I also will be posting all the pieces here and on Instagram and Facebook. The show is linear (excluding todays post) they go in sequential order throughout a spring day. I will post them at the time the piece is set, so watch throughout each day to make sure you don't miss 'em.

Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods

©2021, 18” x 26” Acrylic on Canvas. Purchase it here.

It is a lovely spring day in the Northwoods. The wild world is just a wall away. Exit through any exterior door and you can explore the most interactive, all encompassing adventure there is. Breath in and inhale the scents of blooming flora floating on a gentle breeze of fresh air. Tune in and listen to the soft whisper of the leaves knocking together, the bugs and frogs creaking, the ruckus of rustling fauna in the underbrush, and the plentiful bird calls. If you let your body relax as it absorbs the moment, you can start to spot ALL the colors and textures. What seems to be mostly green at first can be broken down into all of the parts of the rainbow - the purple in the veins of a leaf, the orange gold of low sun rays hitting green leaves, the pink in the quartz rock gravel underfoot; it is actually possible to observe the whole color spectrum if you just take a moment.

The grating calls of the pileated woodpecker and the blue jay catch your attention, but the beauty of their plumage and the sweet calls of the other birds and frogs balance the stereo experience so well. If you pay attention you can feel the annoyance of daily life slip away, you may be reminded of your wild side as you slip into fuller, more grounding, understanding of life.

Sit in this feeling for a moment. Let the innate knowing of your belonging to the wild world take over. Consider that no matter how much we may try to tame ourselves or separate ourselves from the outdoors we are still a part of the wild world; that in fact humans have a large effect on shaping the wild landscapes and the quality of the outdoors.

Every piece of trash chucked out a car window exists in the wild, blowing and floating into the woods/lakes/fields, poisoning the flora and fauna, changing the aesthetics of nature like dirty socks scattered in a living room. All our choices add up. They can be seen by humans when we venture out, but they are constantly felt and experienced by the flora and fauna that don’t live indoors. We can keep the wild world whimsical, colorful, and vibrant by making the right choices. Today (and over the next month) we are making the right choices and getting a peek at some of the wild, whimsical, flora and fauna that are keeping it real in the Northwoods.

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Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods to Open June 4

Announcing the opening of my latest body of work, Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods! The exhibit will be featured at MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, MN throughout the month of June. This series has been in the works for years now, and you have seen some of the pieces posted here, but there are a whole lot more that you will get the chance to see for the first time starting June 4. I will be posting the pieces here soon so even if you can't make it over to the gallery to view the show in-person you will still get to take a look. The details are as follow:

Opening Reception: June 4, 4-7pm
Artist Talk: June 16, 6pm

An early convert to art, Diamond started practicing her eye for design early; a trait still exemplified in her work. Diamond often pairs flora and fauna with unsuspecting imagery in a surreal or whimsical way. Diamond describes her art as “an exploration of growth. Art, like life, is all about the process, and not as much about the finished product.” Diamond often spends dozens of hours on a single piece before she calls it finished.

Her latest body of work, Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods, explores the wild world that hangs in balance with the human world but isn’t always visible to people – even those who travel to seek it out. The paintings in this exhibit will look into the forests to focus on the wildflowers, pollinators, and animals giving credence to the act of looking closer and exploring farther.

Done in acrylic on canvas the lively, colorful, whimsical, pieces will look at the hidden stories of the plants and animals in our forests to honor the often unseen and unheard world that surrounds us.

The work will be on display at MacRostie Art Center (Grand Rapids, MN) through the month of June.

Sponsored by Oak Hill Assisted Living Community

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MACROSTIE ART CENTER is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community growth through the arts in northern Minnesota. We believe that art is central to the quality of life in northern Minnesota – as it is everywhere – and that the artists who create, sell, and exhibit art play a vital role in society. We support artists by providing a well-established venue for exhibition and sale of work. We work to keep the arts visible as a defining part of the community.

MacRostie Art Center
405 1st Avenue NW
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
macrostieartcenter.org
218.326.2697

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Color and Gravity

I love music. My work is highly influenced by my favorite musicians and their album covers As a kid I remember picking up a CD and staring at the cover or liner notes and examining the design as I listened to my favorite songs. I know this influenced me in my profession as a graphic designer and I can see the seeds that were planted by old album are intermingling in my current paintings. It has been my dream to create album art for some time now, but other than a local winter compilation album I have not had the chance until now. For the past year I have been working with local musician, Lance Benson, as he has been putting together his latest album, Color & Gravity. Lance commissioned me to create the cover for his 3 song EP that has since expanded into a full 8 song album filled with lovely vocals and beautiful melodies. I am honored to have my work featured on the cover.

Lance has been a friend for years. I know him from around town and because of his music. I have also worked with him at live shows. We are both sound engineers so we have worked together in that capacity, but I also have ran sound at shows that Lance has performed at and that is probably my favorite. His sound is naturally joyful and his music makes you want to dance.

The night that Lance asked me to do his album cover I was doing sound and helping to put on a show at my day job, Headwaters Music & Arts. It was a music show in December, 2019 and Lance was performing. He came to chat with me before the show started and we got to talking about life, music and art. Lance asked to see my work so I pulled out my phone to show him my Instagram. After he perused my work he told me that he was looking for art for his upcoming EP and he had been looking at finding a local artist to paint it. Later on Lance told me that that when he saw the colors on my Instagram grid, before he had even seen any of the photos closeup, he just had this feeling that my art was what he had been looking for.

Lance approached me again after the show and we agreed to meet for coffee in January 2020 to discuss the cover. At the meeting Lance outlined just a few specifics for what he wanted – an eastern pondhawk dragonfly, a lighthouse, and the title, Color & Gravity. He told me he liked blue and green. We decided I would paint the words rather than adding the title after using a design program. I created the piece with acrylic on canvas and painted the edges so it is just a really lovely piece, ready to hang unframed.

This is my second album cover, but the first I did for on artist as the other cover was for a compilation album. Lance and I worked together on this piece – it was his concept but he gave me free reign to create so I got to dream up the design while listening to his demos. I made sure to get the finished piece to him before he started recording the final project and he said “I then was able to have the original artwork in the studio while recording the album to use as visual inspiration. A full circle creative moment I’ve dreamed of doing for many years. What a dream come true!”

Please go check out Lance’s music and listen to his latest album here.

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I loved creating this piece and I am already looking forward to my next album cover! If you are looking for a local artist to create an original piece for your album you can hit me up and we can discuss your dream.

Color & Gravity

12″ x 12″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

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Female Northern Cardinal

It has been fairly frigid over the last week and have not been painting as much as I would like. I have been busy with work and keeping the house warm. It has been our coldest snap of the year. I am not sure if it has gotten above zero degrees, it has been mainly in the double digits below zero. Despite the cold and the chores I was so happy to wrap up this cold day by finishing this piece featuring a female northern cardinal.

Female cardinals are not as brightly colored as the males so they aren’t as flashy but I still think they are lovely! Did you know the female does the majority of the nest building while the male helps by collecting materials? The male and female also share the responsibility of child rearing evenly, both assisting where needed.

This sweet cardinal is looking for a new nest. She is a 6” x 6” acrylic painting on gallery wrapped canvas (that means it can be hung as is or framed)🐦 $80 + $10 shipping. You can purchase it here.

Female Northern Cardinal

6″ x 6″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.