Well, we took too long, but we finally got up to Yates County Arts Center for the “Art in the Finger Lakes Exhibit.” It was worth the wait, and worth the trip.

Hang around long enough, and you get to ramble on about how things were in days gone by. I myself visited the Y.C.A.C. at two previous locations in Penn Yan, but the current Main Street gallery is the best. The location’s right for foot traffic and auto traffic, both local and tourist in each case. Art’s in the front window, waving you in.

I hadn’t taken more than three or four steps in when, whammo! There was my personal selection for Best of Show – “Keuka Leaf Dance,” a long horizontal watercolor by Bill Mowson. It’s an autumn view of the lake from Keuka Village in Wayne. While the lake is always lovely, what seized me in this painting were the late-fall leaves and trees in the foreground, and the overall pale cast to the colors. There were scarcely two days left of August when we went, and we’ve been commenting on the fact that despite the heat, we can see fall coming on. Maybe that increased the impact.

My second choice, and Joyce’s number one choice, was “Ducks in a Row,” print from original by Maddi Capuano. The mother merganser with her flotilla of ten little ones just makes you feel happy looking at it.

Number three for me was “The Gardener’s Workshop,” a large color photo by Sid Mann. I suppose equal credit here goes to the gardener, who packed this space with decades of license plates, wasp nests, deer antlers, tools, paint, a stove, and even a National Recovery Administration “blue eagle.”

Honorable Mention for me was shared by “The Serene Lake,” Catherine McBride’s spare autumn watercolor, and Judy Soprano’s watercolor winter scene, “Canandaigua Farm.”

Joyce liked many of the watercolors as well, but high on her list were several oils: “Van Etten Barnyard” by Curt Wright; Rendition of Iris Farm” by Judy Soprano; “The Glen,” also by Judy Soprano; and “Stone Point” by Bev Oben.

I’m curious as to why she favored oils while I favored water colors, and pale water colors at that. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I have deficient color vision. I suspect that the darker shades of the oils slide together for me, preventing me from enjoying their full effect.

This exhibit, the heart of what you’ll find in the gallery just now, are paintings by Bill Mowson and sculpture by Don Sottile. But as you can see from my story there are plenty of other artists hanging as well, plus pottery and other art forms. Joyce was delighted with a sort of cheerful gargoyle egg separator by Sommerville Potters.

The space was originally built for a bank, and still includes the walk-in vault with its 17-ton door. I’m a strong proponent of the idea that good engineering is good art… indeed, of the idea that a thing is beautiful because it works, and it works because it’s beautiful. I always spend time before this door, with its constellation of interacting gears and rings and tongues. The interior metal work is even elaborately decorated! Admission to the gallery is free with a donation suggested, but really they could charge admission just to view this door.

“Art in the Finger Lakes” is a sale show, and it runs through September 5, so there’s still time to see and even to buy. Perhaps we should draw to a close with Bill Mowson’s five-panel giclee, “Bully Hill Nightfall,” a view of Keuka as the sun has just set, and lights come on around the lake. Very lovely. Very calm. Time to say good night.