Have you seen iWearYourShirt.com?

At last! I finally got round to creating some products at zazzle.

Zazzle allows images to be printed on cards, clothes, gifts and all manner of objects! (cups, bags, mousemats and so on). Inspired by friends who are making a success of products on zazzle

As well as all the new brushstrok.es images I am creating I have quite a large back catalogue of photos that I wish to publish - many of Scottish landscapes but also some art and abstract shots (see the stack of M&M's below for an example) 

So - I thought I would give it a go too! Watch this space for more products.

What do you make of this? Do you agree? From the wall street journal.

At an exhibit opening this weekend at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, visitors will be asked to wear 3-D glasses and walk around with clipboards and pencils while looking at images of sculptures.

"Beauty and the Brain: A Neural Approach to Aesthetics," enlists the public as participants in a Johns Hopkins University study that looks at why the human brain is attracted to artwork.

Museum-goers will look at 3-D printouts of altered versions of sculptures by abstract artist Jean Arp. One of his works, "The Woman of Delos" (1959), will also be on display at the Walters. While looking at computer-altered versions of the sculptures—some skinnier, others more rotund—participants will be asked which they are most attracted to, and which they like the least.

Organizers say they hope to shed a scientific light on some of the ideas that philosophers have discussed for centuries. One of those is that there's a unique way that the brain activates when we view compelling artwork, something philosophers have called the "aesthetic emotion," says Gary Vikan, director of the Walters and curator of the show.

A related hypothesis is that successful artists are like magicians who have learned to exploit the edges of the brain's perception with sleight-of-hand trickery: They have an innate sense of what tickles the parts of the brain that process visual cues. "The artist is intuitively a neuroscientist," says Mr. Vikan.

follow the reference link for more.. 

I'm starting to wind down for a wee Christmas break and chance to see the family, so it's time to wish all my followers a very Merry Christmas and New Year. 

It's been quite an amazing journey in under two months - I can't thank my new facebook fans enough and all those who've had work done and - it seems - really appreciated the end results.  I'm thrilled that some of you have chosen to give your paintings away as Christmas presents - that's a real honour for me.

I'm really looking forward to the New Year, growing my fan base, and doing great work for those of you who have lots of photos to get painted! Thank you so much for all your support. 

I won't be entirely off-line over the holidays and will still be doing brushstrok.es work - so don't worry if you have an image in the pipeline. 

But meanwhile, please enjoy my Christmas message below.

Best wishes, Nik

I had hoped to blog over last weekend, but as it was my birthday I took a bit of downtime. That might have been a bad idea, as, coupled with my work Christmas meal two days before, I've ended up with a backlog of about 10 paintings to do! But, as we say in the business, "nice problem to have". 

Indeed, I continue to be thrilled by the level of interest and engagement of my fans who surpassed 200 in number on my birthday. That felt like a really good birthday present, because in such a few number of weeks I've acquired some wonderfully devoted followers and fabulous feedback. 

I'm now starting to see some of my customers want to buy full-size versions of their paintings that they can have printed and framed - which is good, because at some point I have to make something out of doing this otherwise I can't even cover my costs, let alone feed myself! But there's no need for anyone who wants a free painting to fret: I'll continue to offer that service for the timebeing via my facebook fan page.