Guess which 4 pieces of art are not Mike Linton originals.

I have always wondered if artistic talent is genetic. I have wondered many times if my amazing artistic talent just came out of nowhere or if my parents were responsible. Is artistic talent nature or nurture? Do children draw like their parents or do they develop and change based on their experience and training. These questions have puzzled my mind until recently when I found my progenitors priceless precious painting displayed here. You can now answer those questions for yourself.

Well it is that time of the month again. I go through my calendar and expenses and ask myself what I did or didn’t accomplish in the last month and then I try to figure out how to make the next month better. This usually consists of a commitment to spend less, train for the upcoming race (this time the ragnar relay), work smarter at my job, be kinder to my best friends, go to bed earlier and get up earlier, home teach every single person (even those that don’t return my phone calls), read more, and eat healthier.

So where did March go? I’ll sum it up in a few words. Choir Practice, Volunteering at Draper Temple, skiing, new business ideas, church basketball, U of U gymnastics tournament, National Dancesport Championship, blogging, starting to study for the GMAT , painting, planting peas, and of course a lot of Valcom work both day and night.

I have learned that I feel a lot more productive in the car when I listen to a book on CD. This month I listened to “Presidential Courage” which went through all the presidents of the United States from the beginning and described situations where they had to go against the popular opinion to do what was right for the nation. I recommend it but just know that although the content was interesting, the reader was a little dry and hard to listen to.

Some random things I learned; people react very differently to abstract art, when I am stressed I clean my room and car, it is possible to study for one month and get over a 700 on the GMAT, I like V8 fusion, Kyoto’s is still the best Japanese restaurant in town, www.condron.us is an interesting way to blog surf (but beware lest ye waste time), how to prune a pear tree, how to sell your art, that I can throw the cup, that you use to pour laundry detergent, into the washer with the clothes and it comes out perfectly leaving no residue around to worry about, I have a lot to be thankful for, memorizing gets easier the more you do it.

That’s all for March

As you all saw in my last post, I decided to put my artwork to the test and see if I could sell my paintings/art through the internet. Admittedly, I am an amature artist, blogger, and internet marketer, but I do believe in the internet as a powerful tool to market anything.

Here is a picture of the first peice of art that I ever sold as a result of the internet and this blog. The yellow/blue art peice is named 'gravity' and the buyer (on the right) is Jamie Maxfield, an avid appreciater of great art, a father, a comedian, a salesman, and customer.

How did I do it. well as you read on the internet it is all about the content, you first have to produce great content (in my case 'gravity' the above mentioned acrylic painting), and then you have to let the world know that the content is out there. This is done by word of mouth and internet advertising and getting people to link their websites to yours.

After the difficult decision to put my artwork up for sell, I started to tell everybody and directed them to my website to check out the art and make a bid. Jamie told me he would pay the full price of $25 and the next day we made the transaction and documented it for posterity

Here is my latest inventory of paintings. I am willing to make deals (like buy one get the second half off, things like that), especially because I have never sold any paintings (no comments about why not) , I imagine they will be hard to part with, but the extra income should lessen the pain of loss. You all better contact me quickly because if my mom sees these she might quickly buy them all up and you’ll all be left without a piece of these potentially priceless paintings. I accept: cash, checks, all major credit cards, trades, money orders etc.

The interest of late has been painting Jackson Pollock style. It was a lot of fun, I put a tarp all around my downstairs wall and carpet and then strategically splattered the paint on several of the canvases.