River of Longing 6 ©Janice Mason Steeves2009 18x18" oil on canvas on pane l After writing my last blog post, I was interested to read the blog post of Susan Buret , an Australian artist who commented on my last post, The Road Not Taken . Susan said that she has had three no sale shows but that her work later won awards or was acquired for well respected collections. She mentioned that she has recently begun a new body of work which is in its formative stages and questions whether she should change directions. Her article has me thinking again about the situation. It's a paradox. On one hand is the flood of excitement of creating new work but then there is a huge effort required to get that new work out into the world. On the other hand when you stay with a body of work or a subject, there is an opportunity to go inward and deeper into the work, while continuing to work in a way that is recognized. There is something so vulnerable about a new body of work. I reme...