Seriously, you should also take the survey.

This past weekend we went on a wine vacation in Sonoma. Our friends Orion and Rebecca have turned it into an annual event. They gather about 18-25 people and rent a mansion for a weekend in wine country. They rent a limo to transport everyone around on Saturday, so everyone is free to taste without worrying about driving.

Friday night we all made our own pizzas and Saturday night several people cooked some delicious food. Everyone hangs out, gets drunk, plays games, eats good food, and generally has a really good time.

We were all assigned jobs - one night I was dinner “mother” (cleans up after everyone) and the rest of the time I was “staff photographer”. Last year I took about 30 pictures, and this year I took over 300!

Mine and Steve’s favorite part was the hot tub. About five of us hung out there for about three hours on Saturday night, in the pouring cold rain. It was awesome!

I was just playing around and experimenting with watercolors when I created this piece with butterflies and swirls. Hope you like it! Here’s the link to the prints, get ‘em while you can!

Remind you of anyone? I was going for a spoof on the creepy Burger King guy, but if you don’t get that I hope you at least think it’s funny or silly.

Last month I read this article, Artists Look Different, about the way an artist sees. It posits that an artist sees a photo or scene much differently from the way a non-artist will view the same photo or scene. An artist will scan the entire photo, while a non-artist will focus on the focal point of the photo (a person or an object). The study used eye tracking to determine these results. I found the article interesting and it seems to make a lot of sense.

Along these same lines, I think an artist may have different memories from a non-artist. This is only a little theory, but here’s why I think this - and maybe some of my readers can comment to affirm or dispute it. Here goes… Steve and I were talking about how, or the way in which we remember someone. For example what pops into your head when you hear/see the word “mom”?

For Steve, a non-artist, it was a very crisp and specific image of his mom from when he was little. For me, an artist, I have this general image or feeling that encompasses all that is my mom and all that she has done for me. It’s hard to put into words, but I guess it’s more like what she represents as opposed to an actual image of her, maybe more like a collage or montage.

I think this is the same as the photo study because Steve had a sharp memory of his mom, like the non-artist strongly focusing on a person in a photo. The artist looks at the entire photo, and likewise the entire being that is mom.

Thoughts?

Just added a new piece to my portfolio called The Magic Book. A young man reads a magic book by a tree, unaware of the over sized kitten approaching.

If you’re interested in a print, get it at my store.

Last month was a pretty tough logo, I only had a few guessers on that one. The logo was Starbucks and the winner is Kirk Hodgman. This month will hopefully be just as challenging, can you guess what it is?

Do you think I should switch to a weekly contest? Leave your opinion in the comments of this post.