She lived in a fishing village; she created illustrations of amphipods for the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Canada; she's rather fond of birds. That's South Bay artist Floy Zittin, one of my favorite local painters. Now she's put out her second book with poet Patricia Machmiller and calligrapher Martha Dahlen.

A new exhibit at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos shows paintings, calligraphy and haiku from the book, "Wild Heart of One Bird Singing." Zittin's birds are always meticulously crafted, which is not surprising for an artist who has a master's degree in marine biology and a long background as a scientific illustrator.

The show is up through March 29, with a March 16 workshop planned on ways to meld together painting and poetry. Contact the gallery for details.