Roll(er) in the New Year!

The studio is tidy, the recycling has been taken to the recycling center. The Yay Jar has been emptied and it's ready for all the good things to come. It must be a new year!

As my first act of 2017... I took a walk.

The Arkansas River, between Sands and Frantz Lakes, looking to the
Sawatch Range and the Continental Divide.

I had extra motivation for getting out early. Since mid-December our little Sands Lake State Wildlife Area has been hosting an extremely rare bird for these parts: long-tailed duck.

Handsome visitor, a male long-tailed duck

The long-tail is a sea duck, typically spending its winters in protected bays of the Atlantic coast. That's a long way from Colorado, and while it's not unknown for one to turn up occasionally on the big reservoirs of the eastern plains, a mountain bird gets a lot of folks' knickers in a twist. Luckily he stuck around for our Christmas Bird Count (December 17), and for the last few days I've been crossing my fingers extra-hard that he'd stay here until the new year. Hoorah! He did!

I've been a bit obsessed with this guy... he's so darn beautiful. He's been hard to photograph, partly because he tends to stay beyond the reach of my camera lens and partly because he's just so busy all the time. He probably spends as much time below the surface of the water as he does above it.

But I've got a few ideas for linocuts that I'd like to pursue, and now I can't decide if the subject of my next print should be the merganser idea I've been itching to start or Mr. Handsome Long-tail. Art world problems.

Since I'm stymied by indecision, I took time in the last few days of 2016 to make a small lino of my friend Sue's pug, Pipsi. These days Pipsi is a mature dog of many talents, but this print takes us back to her puppy days.

I've also got a little cat image drawn up and ready to go, so I can waffle about a larger piece for a few more days.

"Pipsi," reduction linocut, 5" x 5"

Whatever I decide to do next will have to wait until the end of the week, however. Tomorrow I'm off to Denver for the opening of the Coors Western Art Show. It will be a whirlwind couple of days, since I have to get back right away to get ready to leave again next week, but I'm looking forward to catching up with colleagues and collectors at this amazing event.

My work will be in the Club portion of the show, which means that after the opening it will be moved to the gallery at the National Western Club. Although the Club is "members only," you can still get in to see the work if you're visiting the National Western Stock Show January 7-22. Just ask at the Coors Show gallery and they'll let you visit as a guest.

My 2017 is roll(er)ing off to a fast start! Thank you for being part of the adventure, I hope the new year is a great one for all of us.