Thursday, October 25, 2012

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]

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

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]

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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.

Monday, October 8, 2012

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!

Image from open studio weekend

Image from open studio weekend
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.