A truly beautiful short animation. This tells the story of a girl and a fox. It uses a minimal colour palette and ever changing window sizes to draw you in while the music and lighting add the atmosphere.

If only the movies at the cinema could hold my attention like this small gem!

To watch the animation please visit:
http://vimeo.com/25034611

Cinemagraphs — are animated GIF images that look like moving photos. They have an almost hypnotic feel when you initially come across one on the web and combined with the high quality fashion photography create amazing images that you cant but help look at.

To see what I mean visit Beck & Burg's web site at the following link:
http://cinemagraphs.com/

This photograph by Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer’s  comes from a set which documented their journey to Kyrgyzstan and was part of their solo exhibition called My Quiet of Gold.

The artist/photographers approached the culture by allowing the people they met to stage their own stories.

The artists’ portrayals of the people not only have a strong 19th century portrait feel but also suggest other meanings hidden away in the narrative of the image.

To see more of Cooper & Gorfer's work please visit their website at:
http://www.coopergorfer.com/

Swiss illustrator Alberto creates digital paintings which are almost photographic in detail and is truly inspiring. Some of the work that went into this portrait is presented in his blog at the following link. http://stingarea.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/luciano.html

To see more of Alberto's work please visit:
http://cargocollective.com/stingone

Could not look at the work of Rebecca Guay below with out revisting the work of W.H. Waterhouse who I have been intruguide with for a long time. The way he could draw you into his painting by telling a story is truly inspiring and makes me want to eperiment more in my own work.

To see more of W.H. Waterhouse work please visit:
http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/paintings/

Rebecca's amazing watercolours and illustrations for me suggest the work of past masters such as John Everett Millais and J.W. Waterhouse, but what makes the romantic themes she investigates very much her own are how she brings modern influences to the work as her web site shows in her client list which features Lucas film, Dark Horse Comics and Marvel Comics to name but a few.
It's good to see someone be so successful with this classical style and to know its still very much alive in the world of Adobe design software.


To see more of Rebecca's work please visit her web site at:
http://www.rebeccaguay.com/

My wife introduced me to the work of Joichi Hoshi a Japanese woodblock print artist. She had seen his work while teaching in Japan and fell in love with it. I too was amazed by his studies of trees which clearly illustrate his intricate and elaborate compositions while using silver and gold leaf to eluminate his work. The artist passed away in 1979 and his work is now highly collectable.

To see more of Joichi work visit the following website.
http://pinterest.com/WandaMarie1/artists-joichi-hoshi/