Florida State University research scientist, Michael Davidson, combined alcohol and microphotography to come up with the imagery you see below – a microscopic print of chablis.

What started as nerdy slides has turned into quite a little business called Bevshots Microart. The images are made by first crystallizing the drink of choice on a lab slide. Using a standard light microscope with an attached camera, the light source is polarized and passed through the crystal, which creates the bright array of colors. What I love about this is the relationship between a favorite drink versus a favorite image. I might be drawn to the aesthetics of one drink while my actual tastes appeal to something else. It’s also a fun gift idea for a relative who considers themselves a connoisseur of one type of alcohol. For this reason, my grandma Beverly might just receive the print below as she considers herself a connoisseur of vodka (no need to point out that her specialty is cheap vodka).

There’s even an iPhone app so you can explore the drinks while sipping them at your favorite bar.

With the ever changing and improving world of technology, Bevshots is just one example of the rising interest in digital art. A few weeks along, former IMA blogger Noelle Pulliam sent me an article on David Hockney’s instant iPad art. The artist began creating works on his iPad to send to friends and within weeks there was more than a nice little collection.

While the images, like the flowers above, are really nice, I can’t help but wonder if I would miss the texture that comes with paint on a canvas. There was also an immediate problem Hockney faced with how to display his work. The solution, as you can see in the video, was a series if iPads along an exhibition wall.

I’m sure there are many who would argue against the artistic value of iPad art and most certainly the artistic value of Bevshots. However, Hockney’s description of capturing an early morning sunrise more effectively with his iPad than he could with a pencil and paper is very intriguing.

While this method would certainly save a lot of time and cleanup hassle for artists like Hockney, digital art is also commonly practiced by many who are not making a career as artists. Kris Arnold pointed out his post, Making fake HDR images in Adobe Lightroom, that the new iPhones will produce stunning HDR images and I know several friends who are snapping very nice photos with their phones. Plus, there are all sorts of camera apps you can download to easily modify and stylize your photos. A professional photographer and friend of mine even joked the other day that she might start specializing in iPhone photography because she was so happy with a photo she captured using her phone.

Have any of you captured a really great photo on your phone or created your own iPad masterpiece? Upload your digital masterpieces to our Digital Art Flickr group.

Wilber the English Bulldog

Most of us are familiar with one scene or another from our friend’s basement game room of dogs playing poker. The prints are likely knock-offs of a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow to advertise cigars. According to Wikipedia, the paintings “have become derisively well-known in the United States as examples of mainly working-class taste in home decoration.” In 2005, two of the original Coolidge paintings fetched more than half a million dollars at auction.

"A Friend in Need" by C. M. Coolidge. Photo: The New York Times

Clearly, in the 1900s artists of all types were drawing upon man’s best friend as subjects to convey pop culture, humor and politics of the day. (Note: it’s the bulldog smartly passing the card under the table with his toes above.) But when did this canine imagery begin?

I was surprised to find an entire exhibition on the subject by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston called Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today. The museum features online slideshows and a great podcast interview with their Curator of European Art Dr. Peters Bowron.

Down through the centuries, other than the horse, perhaps dogs are the animal that has most widely been represented in every culture and practically every medium. And that’s the goal of this exhibition, to present the variety and above all the quality of images and affection and admiration with which the dog has been received by human beings. — Dr. Peters Bowron

What a fascinating way to look at social concerns in Western culture through the years. The MFAH exhibition depicts “the nobility and drama of the hounds of the hunt in Renaissance and Baroque art; the cozy domesticity of Dutch mutts and the pampered luxury of French Rococo and Impressionist lapdogs; the studied modernity of animals of the Machine Age and the febrile angst of Expressionism’s curs; the wit and irony of canine imagery in the eras of Pop, Postmodernism, and their aftermath…” George Stubbs, Andy Warhol and David Hockney all painted pups!

So what does our canine imagery say about us today? By looking at Jeff Koons’ twisty-balloon dogs or William Wegman’s photography of sometimes costumed Weimaraners, future generations might say we lean toward extravagance and eroticism. A few months ago, Michael Schaffer was interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air about his new book One Nation Under Dog, documenting how the $43 billion industry “reflects our evolving ideas of consumerism, family, politics and domesticity.” Obviously, dogs are still man’s best friend. And now you know mine — his name is Wilber, and he would like to lick you.

Wilber as "Man's Best Friend"

(Wilber is currently contemplating a career in guerrilla marketing, life as the official ArtBabble.org mascot, or acting as an understudy to Butler University’s Blue II.)