When I first saw his painting I was in shock by the oddness of it. Seeing it makes me question what was going through the artist's head. Many faces, mushrooms, noses, flashing lights, and even a snowman too. It made me think of the cold nights of winter, after playing outside and coming inside for the taste of warm hot chocolate. Looking for the meaning of it is like reaching for the stars; stretching out with the hope of one day grabbing one but only to touch the tip of the mystery.

The flashing lights give an odd illusion of the brain. The flashing colors, purple, green, red, orange, yellow, blue, all show the feelings a person can have at any moment in time. Maybe the artist intended for the colors to make the viewers’ emotions swirl, change, collide with every flash. Maybe that's the point of the painting, not just what the eyes can see but what the mind can come up with. No meaning at all, only what the viewer's brain can create. A painting to let the mind free, not a limit, not a portrait with a reason, a mind roaming painting. I had so many things running through my head, its emotions, or maybe the afterlife, and maybe a town at war with countless lives in danger. But even with so many questions I love the painting. It challenges the viewer and entertains them with their own imagination. Mike Raidt has achieved this, making a painting so exotic that just a quick glance will be enough to make you stare.

On top of the painting I see the sky with tiny stars, an opening to a world that's yet has to be discovered. Reminds me of the smell of night time air through the lungs. Then on the bottom I see what looks like buildings. The buildings made me think of the cities, hearing all the cars drive by at night, like a thunderstorm in a quiet house.  With this many random things inside a painting it could mean many things.

Besides reminding me of a brain, I also see people coming from earth going into heaven. I have a friend that had a spiritualist go to their house, they found out that their house is the halfway point to the afterlife. Its out by a corn field which adds a creepy glow to it. Even a glow might not be able to describe it, like a walk at night when all seems well until your imagination takes over. My mind told me that it's the house that became a graveyard with no bodies. A graveyard with so many stories untold, unheard of.  Every sole with a lifetime of stories; good, bad, funny, boring and even embarrassing. Makes me wonder where they go. Have they lived a life time just to live another? Or to find a safe haven for eternity?  Maybe a chance to live a dream they’ve always dreamt of. It might even be a choice, a choice to go see your family in the sky or the family on earth. The wonder of it has made people question it thousands of years and thousands to come.

As I write this paper I see all the people in the room and think of their stories that will be made. Wonders and dreams to fulfil throughout their lifetime. I can only imagine what's in store for me. But hopefully at the end of it all; I’ll get to see the faces of the ones I use to see.