Fashionably late again. I’ve been deep into art-related admin tasks. I spent a few days revamping my website (www.maureenmccarron.com) and in the process discovered that my membership page at The NewBridge Project in Newcastle Upon Tyne (https://thenewbridgeproject.com/artist/maureen-mccarron/) is up and running so I’m officially international now and very happy with the results. Today I hope to tackle the essay I need for one of the grants I’m applying for. It would simplify things if these application requirements were more uniform but alas, even the image sizes and resume character counts are different each time. Having to cut my resume down from over 8,000 characters to 2,000 for this particular grant was a trip. Bye Bye New York history, Welcome abbreviated, initialized venue titles.

Speaking of numbers, last week was my second anniversary on Substack. My first post was about Flaco, the owl who escaped from a Manhattan zoo and lived feral for much longer than anyone expected him to. At the time, I only sent it out to 26 people. Today, that post has had 180 views so clearly some of my followers have gone back to read it. So Hello out there! I love that you’re here. You are very much appreciated! In the meantime, two new birds - Scout the parrot above and Atticus the frigate at the top - are framed and ready for my show this spring. I spoke to The Commons about expanding my allotted space and we’ve come up with a few options. Still, I’m teetering on the brink of having too much work, especially since the new ones are bigger than usual. Also, Atticus brings the series full circle since he was inspired by the first of the little charcoal studies, below. This makes my focusing on grant applications right now feel timely, even though I intend to stick with birds and charcoal. Yes, yes, busy busy, lots to do - let’s go! Onward.