Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos is having an unusual show this July. It features 5″ x 7″ watercolors created by long time friends Floy Zittin, Elaine Frenett and Jean Warren from 2005 till 2010 as a form of keeping in touch after being separated by family moves.

I never saw anything like that – a beautiful collection of small masterpieces with a deep meaning behind them.

Today was the reception at Nina Uppaluru’s show at Gallery 9. Nina has about 20 watercolor and acrylic paintings there.

“Up And About” is probably my favorite from the show. All those lush colors and intricate shapes are mesmerizing. I say “probably” because other works make it hard to choose just one.

Up And About – acrylics on canvas, 36″ x 48″

It was nice to see how many people came to see Nina’s beautiful art and to talk to her. Attention well deserved.

That reminds me of sketching in Moscow Zoo with my friends, years and years ago. Good times, good to live close to the zoo.

Zoo sketches by Katie Reihman

Wonderful sketches by Katherine Tyrrell – airy, elegant, very well composed.

Sketching at the RA – Friends Room #7
8″ x 10″, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

Travels with a Sketchbook in…….

Wonderful live model drawings and sketches:
Drawing and Sketching by Artist Bernard Garcia.

Portrait Drawing – Male Guitar Player

Stumbled upon a very nice blog – Illustrated Life by a Jeanette Jobson. It’s a wonderful collection of many styles, media, and subjects paired with great writing. And she does something that I don’t think I was aware of before – gyotaku, fish printing.

Roses in the Snow, iced watercolour, 9 x 12

Can’t decide what I like more – Wendy’s polished colored pencil or expressive stroke work in pastel. Would love to see either of the two in person, but it is a long haul from here to New Mexico.

Wendy Blackwell – fine art pastels and art in colored pencil

Love her style. Make sure to check other ink links on the left menu – much ink goodness there.

Ink drawings by Brett Manning

The Fox's Den. By Brett Manning. Ink

I am partial to black and white photography in general, and can drop everything to go see more of it when it’s really good. Ragnar Axelsson’s photographs easily fit into the “really good” category. So many wonderful photos!

Someone mentioned Ragnar’s work to me and shared a link to his gallery. It turned out to be a whole world of images like no others. Just look at these stunning photographs!

Sadly, the web site had almost no information on the photographer himself, and it took some googling to learn about the man behind the camera:

PhotoBards.com – interview with Ragnar Axelsson
Showcase: Black and Very White