Alexandra Valenti is a great photographer here in Austin. She can shoot just about anything that moves or doesn't move, too, I guess. But the true artist comes out when she adds her hand work to each photo. Instead of using Photoshop to make the photos amazing, Alexandra prints them and then paints directly on top of them.

She also makes great drawings and doodles, as well. Here are a few below:

Jay Geurink, a good homie down here in Austin is also a rad maker of sorts. He works with found objects and wooden pieces to form colorful, often animal related works. His detail with a paintbrush is pretty killer and his type work is top notch in my books.



Jay also collaborated with Jessica and myself on a Crummy House zine in the past and has contributed to many art projects in the past. He also kitty sits our cats when we go out of town, so he's A-plus in our books.

Adrienne Vita's ink, watercolor, acrylic and gouache illustrations capture and promote everything good and true -- coexistence, wanderlust, individuality, friendship and family. Her beautiful menagerie of wild animals are seeped in color and pattern-- they're warm and bright and comforting in image and message. Adrienne says each piece comes from her intuition and meditations. Viewers can't help but become admirers, and admirers can't help but feel a sense of peace. Thank you to UncommonGoods for making the acquaintance.

While perusing through our flickr group, I stumbled upon the art of a Russian artist who goes by uncle_cat on flickr. Not much other info has been found, so any other tidbits about the artist remain a mystery.

Their art is vivid, playful, and infused with child-like whimsy. Some pieces look like something a proud parent would pin up on the fridge. Others show a glimpse of a crazy, fantastical world that is full of details. It's tempting to hop right into this colorful place populated by critters with character, geometric geography, and slanting cities.

I don't know if I envy Eric Olmstead more for his insane talent or his extensive travels. His work is so vivid in color and detail, so powerful in narrative, and so pop art and animated, I almost expected a few onomatopoeias: POW! CRRACK! WHAM! KER-SPLASH! From being drugged and robbed in Ecuador to finding himself in Sydney to backpacking in the Philippines, Eric's artwork brings you with, so you can imagine hiking the Inca trail alongside. For anyone bitten by the travel bug, you know that Wanderlust always calls. Eric Olmstead answered.

I discovered Delphine Durand (and her entourage of weird animals) when she was teaching a workshop at Ilustratour. I couldn't go and was left with the desire. Since then, I follow her work from the distance.

I love her magic and bizarre animated monsters that walk around her drawings and on her books and travel journals.



And thanks to her, I know about "Les Cahiers de L'Articho", a French illustration magazine that's got me blown away. She also has an amazing pinterest page where she uploads everything she likes.

I recently found out that Kitty Crowther is from Belgium with a British father and Swedish mother. In fact, it was in Brussels where I first discovered one of her books, the one that shocked me most, "Petite home et dieu" (Little man and God).

What I like most from her is the lack of digital retouching, the spontaneous drawings, the feeling that she has done them very quickly (non-stop), and the way in which she uses colour, lights and blacks above all. I also like the fact that she uses colour pencils, it makes me think that someday when I get older, I could be like her.

Some issues or themes can be difficult for a kid to understand, but her subtlety makes it all very easy.

I hate that she doesn't have a website, because I couldn't find all the images that I wanted, but here are some.