Sam

Sam

Oil on canvas, 30x30, $850

As January spins on, I find myself in a flurry of painting. And this is good - and thrilling - but something to reckon with.

From Jan. 21 to Feb. 13, I'll have work in the Members Invitational show at South County Art Association in West Kingston, R.I. (For anyone in the area, the opening reception is Thursday, Jan. 21, from 7-9 p.m.). From Feb. 1 to Feb 28, I'll have animal paintings, including this one of Sam, in a show with the wonderfully talented Carden Holland at the Lighthouse Gallery in Groton.

The show at the Emporium Gallery, 15 Water St., Mystic, Conn., is up through Jan. 18. The Represented Artists show is up at the Wallkill River School in Montgomery, N.Y., through Jan. 21, and my show there, with the superb pastelist Shawn Dell Joyce, starts March 1.

Weaving through all this is a series of juried shows I'd like to enter; the work I send to be juried has to be available to hang, should I get in.

So I have work hanging, work owed, work due and work to enter. It's a little like a puzzle, figuring out how to get the freshest paintings, the newest paintings, in the best venues. I don't want people to come to a show and see work they've already seen! But I don't want to keep work out of, say, the Lighthouse Gallery show because I want to enter it into the Art Show at the Dog Show show for jurying. For starters, it might not get in there - and even if it does, it might or might not sell at the Lighthouse Gallery, so this might - or might not - end up being an issue.

All I can say is - what a GREAT problem to have. Some days, I shake my head in wonder at all of this, and how amazingly lucky I am.

Thanks for reading! And thank you, too, for all your good help, good hopes and support.