Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays

A drawing to share with you on this Winter Solstice of a brain wearing a hat and ice skating on a quiet pond.

Happy Holidays to you and yours and thank you for your continued support this past year.

Have a healthy and joyful 2013!

Regards,

Michelle Hunter

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A #Brain Drawing for World #AIDS Day

December 1st has become recognized around the world as World AIDS Day.

Do you know how the HIV/AIDS virus impacts your brain? neuroAIDS is a term used to describe the type of dementia caused by the virus. As one is further along in the progression of the virus, the disease may have caused significant destruction to the white matter in the brain. That is illustrated in my drawing above by the darkened areas. It's within white matter where our communication, processing and cognition reside.

Symptoms of dementia include memory loss, behavioral changes, and emotional instability.

While there has been improvements in medication for diminishing the virus in one's blood, there is still much work to be done to reduce the virus' impact on the brain. Learning more about this is becoming increasing important as 1 in 5 of those with the virus will develop dementia. In addition, they are also living longer and regular aging of the brain may compound the effects.

Check out the history of World AIDS Day on wikipedia: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_AIDS_Day#section_1

Michelle Hunter

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What are you watching for World Television Day? #tv #brain

As they say, "A picture is worth 1,000 words".

In my brain drawing here, I have a television set embedded in the back of the brain which is where our visual cortex resides.

So, what will you be watching today?

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A #brain #drawing for Universal Childen's Day

On December 14th 1954, Universal Children's Day was born through the United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday Did you know that? What a great concept that is to dedicate a day to honor the world's children.

In keeping with my artwork on the brain, I wanted to find some information on how children's brains developed and came across these two articles.


- "How Children's Brains Develop" http://school.familyeducation.com/cognitive-development/biochemistry/38471.html
- "Children's Brains Change As They Learn To Think About Others" http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248867.php

(C) Michelle Hunter www.hunterart.com

The articles mentions that the brain 'grows' as one learned new things like how to interact with others as well as experiencing 'growth spurts'. Myelin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin helps secures what the brain is absorbing. In the first article, it is suggested that at ages 1, 4, 7, 11 and 15, is when neuron connectors are denser resulting in a greater ability to learn. That concept is illustrated in the above drawing.

Here's a close-up in progress as well to share with you:

Know of other resources that explore the brain of a child? Feel free to let me know.

Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html 
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com 
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart 
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's quick #drawing of the #brain for International Men's Day!

Happy International Men's Day! It falls on November 19th.

You can read more about how it began and how it it now celebrated in over 60 countries in this Wikipedia post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Men's_Day

Using the Mars symbol for Men, I did a quick sketch of what scientists believe are some key differences in the male brain versus the female brain. The sketch mostly focuses on the differences in grey and white matter but there's more being discovered!

(c) Michelle Hunter www.hunterart.com

A couple of the sources I used to get more information about these differences include:
- http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ
- http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

Do you know of other articles I should check out that also address what may be different between the female and male brain?

Or do you have different ideas of how to represent the male brain? Let me know :)

Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html 
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com 
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart 
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's World #Philosophy Day! Here's a Rodin inspired #drawing

Hi there,

What comes to mind for you when the word "Philosophy" is mentioned? Well to celebrate World Philosophy day, here is a "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin inspired drawing where instead of the body, I used the brain :)

I have a bit more activity happening at the prefrontal cortex of the brain as that's where our decision making happens.

Read more about Rodin's sculpture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High Blood Sugar and the #Brain for World #Diabetes Day

Hello there,

Here is a drawing I've done for World Diabetes Day which is November 14th. The image represents how the imbalance of sugar effects of the brain of one with normal blood sugar (brain on the left) and one with high blood sugar (brain on the right).

For the brain on the right, the scale contains more sugar which is putting pressure on the brain. The results of that additional weight shrinks the amygdala and hippocampus areas of the brain housed in the limbic system.

According to this article by ABC News "High Blood Sugar Levels Linked to Brain Shrinkage", the amygdala (emotions) and hippocampus (memory) areas of the brain that shrinked for those with high blood sugar.

The study was conducted by the Neuroimaging and Brain Lab at Australian National University and would help refine the definition of diabetes.

There are multiple forms of diabetes which is defined as a disease where one has high blood sugar either because they cannot produce enough insulin or the insulin produced can't be absorbed by the cells. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus 

For World Diabetes Day, find out more information on the disease on the American Diabetes Association website:  www.diabetes.org 


Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your memories could be LOST if not for this protein #Brain #Memory

This was a little unsettling when I read an article recently posted by ScienceDaily.

You may already be familiar with the 2 different types of memory we have: short- and long-term. Do you find it difficult to sustain a memory for a long time? That's the case for me which I represented in a painting for my brain series called "Don't You Remember?".

Don't You Remember? (c) Michelle Hunter
http://hunterart.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-painting-dont-you-remember.html

Now there was a study done recently of Drosophila melanogaster flies and their formation of long-term memory cells. Exhibited were specific proteins that were produced in the nerve cells which then become synthasized. Securing the bond between existing neuron connections and forming new ones are necessary for the formation of long-term memories. It's speculated that those proteins are CPEB which is an abbreviation for cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein.

This is pretty neat! This research can lead to other large discoveries which can impact our we as humans coup with involuntary memory loss.

Read more about Dr. Krystyna Keleman's research here: http://www.imp.ac.at/research/research-groups/keleman-group/research/

Want to dig a little further into this research? Check out this article in the issue of Neuron (http://download.cell.com/neuron/pdf/PIIS0896627312007659.pdf) titled "Drosophila CPEB Orb2A Mediates Memory Independent of Its RNA-Binding Domain". It was written by a lead member of Dr. Keleman's team.**
To read the article posted by ScienceDaily, you can click here: The Fabric for Weaving Memory: To Establish Long-Term Memory, Neurons Have to Synthesize New Proteins
 

In my painting used in this post, it represents the brain as wire. Details like people, venues, activites, scents can be triggers for recalling a memory. I show that connection as a person trying to connect the wires to create a spark. Interested in purchasing a print? Visit  http://www.imagekind.com/Dont-You-Remember_art?IMID=30f3b25b-ee91-49f4-b9f0-af15f50b83b2

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]
Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]
Twitter [twitter.com/artcoholic]
LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

** Sebastian Krüttner, Barbara Stepien, Jasprina N. Noordermeer, Mieke A. Mommaas, Karl Mechtler, Barry J. Dickson, Krystyna Keleman

Neuron - 18 October 2012 (Vol. 76, Issue 2, pp. 383-395)

Help your fat cells help you! Give your #brain enough rest

Yes I said fat cells, which are described in a recent ScienceDaily post regarding how our fat cells are effected by the amount of sleep we get ("Even Your Fat Cells Need Sleep, According to New Research").

(c) Michelle Hunter "Zzzzzzzz(sleep)"
http://hunterart.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-painting-nap-time.html

Now I never really thought about my fat cells before, but they serve a good purpose. When I think of fat, I think of it as something that slows you down; well body fat actually stores energy. It removes fatty acids and  molecules like lipids (What are lipids? See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipids) that risk damaging any tissues. If the fat cells don't have the ability to do their job and remove these lipids, then there can be some trouble.

I try to get at least 6 hours of sleep and that's partly due to other articles I've been reading that suggest that our bodies become increasingly unable to function properly with less sleep. In the study led by Assistant Processor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Esra Tasali, MD (http://www.uchospitals.edu/physicians/esra-tasali.html) two groups of people were measured over four nights, those that slept for 8 hours and those that slept for 4 hours. All participants then took a glucose test to measure their insulin sensitivity.  A biopsy was also done to remove abnormal fat cells that were around the navel area.

For more detail on the testing, I suggest you read the article. In short, the fat cells of those that were sleep-deprived needed approximately 3-times the amount of insulin to do their job. Your body needs to rest to stay healthy!

How many hours of sleep would you now make a point of getting each night?

In my painting used in this post, it shows that a lot is happening in our brain as our bodies rest. The brain doesn't sleep, instead certain functions become more active than others. This article helps show that our body is an amazing machine and needs it's parts greased up to keep working well. A good amount of rest provides that lubrication.

Sleep well!

Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]
Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com] 
Twitter [twitter.com/artcoholic]
LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

The Awesome Amygdala, in Your #Brain, Could Have "Eye Cells"!

You gotta love how there is always new things being learned about fasinating brains!

Recent buzz is around the stimulation triggered by making eye-contact with someone. Whether that person is special to you or not, the activity does trigger a feeling that something special is happening right? In a recent study of monkeys, it was discovered that there are neurons that are only triggered not only when one looks into the eyes of another but also when that gaze is returned.

What is the amygdala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala)? It lives deep near the center of our brains and manages the processing of our emotions and social interactions.

The discovery of these "eye cells" were made by University of Arizona neurophysiologist Katalin Gothard (Her profile can be viewed here: http://www3.physiology.arizona.edu/articles/43) and her team when they were studying the amygdala in the brain of Rhesus macaque monkeys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhesus_macaque).

Gothard gave a presentation on her discovery at the Society of Neuroscience conference this week. Here's a link to the SfN press release including Gothard's summary (http://www.sfn.org/am2012/pdf/press/Faces.pdf).

For more information on this new discovery, you can also visit the article by New Scientist "Eye-contact detector found in the brain"

What kind of sensations do you feel when you make eye-contact with someone? Leave a comment here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
I look forward to turning this discovery into a painting! Would you like to see how that would come about? Email me at info@hunterart.com and I will keep you posted with in progress pictures and commentary.

Michelle Hunter

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brain Series of Paintings: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]
Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]
Twitter [twitter.com/artcoholic]
LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

World #MentalHealth Day: WIP on the #Brain and #Depression

Depression isn't an easy topic to address no matter the medium. This painting I've been working on as part of my Brain Series has certainly taking it's own time to come to completion.

Inspired by the death of a close friend, this painting is meant to show how you nor I can see what is really going on inside of a person. The seemlingly happiest person to us may be struggling with strong internal demons we don't learn about until it's too late.

A couple of articles I've been referencing are from ScienceDaily and the New York Times:
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227162656.htm
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/health/25brain.html?_r=0
Are there other references you think I should know about?

Here are two work in progress shots of the painting as well as a video describing the composition. Please review and share your throughts.

WIP VLOG #4 - Brain & Depression - Acrylic on Canvas from Michelle Hunter on Vimeo.


WIP VLOG #5 - Brain & Depression - Acrylic on Canvas from Michelle Hunter on Vimeo.


WIP VLOG #6 - Brain & Depression - Acrylic on Canvas from Michelle Hunter on Vimeo.

All the best :)


Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com

Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]
Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]
Twitter [twitter.com/artcoholic]
LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

PS: Feel free to share this email with others you think may appreciate it. Thank you very much for your continued support of my work.

Reflections on GO Brooklyn Art 2012: One month later

To those of you who were able to visit me at studio B50, thank you so much!! Seeing friends and being able to personally share my work and studio space with you was incredibly special. Below are two pictures from the event. To see more you can visit this page on my website www.hunterart.com

  

Overall, the open studio weekend was a great time for a variety of other reasons.

1. Got to meet so many people.
2. Loved hearing the variety of impressions the works left on visitors.
3. Experienced an even greater sense of pride in my work as I worked together with my studiomate Noah Xifr to hang the works.
4. The "Artist Dialogue" component was a cool opportunity to practice answering guests questions and describing my process and influences. (Missed the press release? Read it now here.)

This is something I would love to do again; perhaps on a more intimate scale. Are you interested? Let me know (info@hunterart.com) and please tell others!

All the best  :)

Michelle Hunter 

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com

Facebook Page   [facebook.com/hunterart]
Hunter Art Blog   [hunterart.blogspot.com]
Twitter   [twitter.com/artcoholic]
LinkedIn   [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

PS: Feel free to share this email with others you think may appreciate it. Thank you very much for your continued support of my work.

Painting Live! Recorded Session At The Studio Post 1

Hi All,

Want to know what happens as I create a painting from beginning to end, well thanks to Ustream, you can get that much closer to the action.

I've just began my Ustream account (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hunterart) where occasionally during the week and/or weekend, you can turn in for an hour and see me work on a painting...LIVE. You can you their chat feature to ask me questions or use twitter as well.

Below is my first hour of live recording as I work on another brain painting on the topic of negative/positive thoughts.


Video streaming by Ustream

I'm still working out what a good set date and time would be, but for now, I'll post finished painting sessions here. If you are on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic)  or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/hunterart) and follow me, I'll post notices of when the next live painting session will be online.

Till then!

Michelle Hunter 

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034

www.hunterart.com

Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]

Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]

Twitter [@artcoholic]

LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

WIP Video: Brain Freeze Painting

Within an couple of minutes you can learn how my next brain painting is coming along. Take a listen to my speak about my painting in progress about the experience of the Brain Freeze!


WIP VLOG #8 - Brain Freeze - Acrylic on Canvas from Michelle Hunter on Vimeo.




Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com

 Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]
 Twitter [@artcoholic]

 LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

Brain Painting Made it to Scope NYC 2012 Show

Hi everyone,

I had wondered for years what it would take to be included in a group at show at one of the major art fairs that take place in New York each year.

Well below is a picture of me next to one of my brain paintings that was shown at the chashama booth at the 2012 Scope New York Art Show :-)

Here are pics of other works in the booth:

The artists in the show were selected from a lottery with artists from chashama's space to create program. Those interested in participating were given a 12" x 12" stretched canvas to create what we like.

Do you or someone you know aware of opportunities for submitting or showing my work? Let me know! I look forward to working with you.

Regards,
Michelle

New Painting on the Brain and the Visual Cortex

Brace yourselves for some eye catching work :)

Focusing on our brain and the visual cortex, I introduce you to:

Yet to be Seen

20" x 24"

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

Got dots?

Our visual cortex is located at the back of our brains and covers both left and right hemispheres. By knowing just that bit of information, I wanted the the angle of the head to be 3/4 profile from the back. I felt that if it was a full view from the back, it may be hard to know how much area the visual cortex covers. In this detail below, you'll see that the visual cortex area of the brain is highlighted with this dense area of reddish dots.

The idea for how to paint this work seemed pretty straight forward...as a color blind test! I couldn't think of a vision painting without connecting it to a vision test of all things. As you can imagine, the painting became a bit hard at times to look at while creating it. You can view some in progress pics and video below.

While there are different types of color blindness and different types of tests for it, I chose to do the painting in the style of the Ishihara Color Vision Charts common for red-green color blindness. Not only are these tests useful, I personally find them fun to do; it's like exercise for our eyes (or at least how I thought of it).

(c) Michelle Hunter

(c) Michelle Hunter

(c) Michelle Hunter

(c) Michelle Hunter

(c) Michelle Hunter

Want to learn more about how our visual cortex works? Visit the Wikipedia on the topic here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cortex

How about the Ishihara Color Vision Charts? Read more about them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_perception_test

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SEE the whole Brain Series so far!!! Check out this particular page that will be updated with each completed brain painting! http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html

'Til next time!

Regards,

Michelle Hunter 

Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034

 Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]

 Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]

 Twitter [@artcoholic]

 LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]

New Painting - The Brain and Smoking, Part 2 [Secondhand Smoke]

Hi Everyone,

The National Institutes of Health released a press release in May 2011 covering their findings on the impact of secondhand smoke on the brain. The article stated that those exposed to secondhand smoke suffer the same impact as those that do smoke. Being around secondhand smoke regularly could create behavioral patterns in the brain that promote smoking. You can read the press release here: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/may2011/nida-02.htm

With that said, I'm pleased to share with you the follow up painting to
"Brain and Smoking, Part 1"

It Begins: The Brain and Secondhand Smoke  Part 2

20" x 24"

Acrylic on stretched canvas

The smoke beginning to build in the brain represents the start of the brain establishing similar patterns with the brain of someone that smokes regularly. As referenced in the above article by the NIH, those that are about secondhand smoke can develop brain patterns that promote smoking.

This piece is the companion to  "Brain and Smoking, Part 1"

By seeing the two paintings side-by-side, you can the areas that are highlighted in one profile but not the other. For "Brain and Smoking, Part 1" which is on the right, the white outline remains strong around the mouth which is the smoke fumes are mostly inhaled, in addition to the nose. For "It Begins: The Brain and Secondhand Smoke" the white outline is strong around the nose and not the mouth.


What also connects the works is the smoke. The smoke coming from the profile on the right is being inhaled by the profile painting on the left.

As usual, let me know your thoughts and I look forward to sharing my next brain painting with you!

Check out the others works that make up the brain series so far. The works address: being present, caffeine, memory, alcohol, sleep and music. http://hunterart.blogspot.com/2012/02/brain-series.html

Regards,
Michelle

 Facebook Page [facebook.com/hunterart]

Hunter Art Blog [hunterart.blogspot.com]

 Twitter [@artcoholic]

 LinkedIn [linkedin.com/in/hunterart]