Ever noticed how this time of year, with all the lights twinkling indoors and out as a means of keeping our spirits up for the coming months, mundane objects get a new glow about them? The objects on the mantel, clustered together on a bookshelf or centering the table all seem to ask for rearranging - and deep contemplation. Such has been, is and hopefully always will be the draw of the still life and, by inference, the observed landscapes that they mimic on a home scale.

This month at the Woodstock Artists' Association and Museum, Kingston-based painter Paul Abrams - a SUNY-New Paltz alumnus, beloved local art teacher and husband of noted landscape artist Jane Bloodgood-Abrams - is the featured solo artist in the venerable institution's recently renovated middle galleries. So even though Abrams is a frequent solo exhibitor throughout the outskirts of the region, in Hudson and New York City and environs, this is a great chance to see this master of classic forms in a prime local location.

"I am dedicated to creating works of an intriguing and compelling nature, striving for images of beauty and mystery," he has written of his classic style, so redolent of the Hudson River's Dutch roots. "My paintings seek to invoke an appreciation of life's splendor and enigmatic quality."

Abrams is a master, as seen in both his still lives and accompanying landscape work, all intimately sized and beautifully presented. Accompanying his solo show is a main gallery Members' Holiday Show and, in WAAM's rear Towbin Wing, a historical exhibition, "Graceful Gestures," featuring drawings and other works by the late friends and local art scene legends from the town's visual arts heydays in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Jane Dow Bromberg and Andree Ruellan.

The Woodstock Artists' Association and Museum is located at 28 Tinker Street, just off the Village Green. For further information visit www.woodstockart.org or call (845) 679-2940.