The characters in Sheila Asbell Allen's paintings almost always are joyful and vibrant and in dramatic pose.

This time, for a new group exhibit, a girl is curled into a ball. The blue acrylic paint swirling around her gives further expression to a moment of sorrow.

"Too Blue for You?" the painting asks.

Elsewhere at the McLean County Arts Center, in the Armstrong Gallery and in the lobby outside, are 122 iterations of blue by other artists - each independently developed from the common theme of "… and i am blue …"

The exhibit "… and i am blue …" continues through Dec. 22.

Artists were invited to submit work fitting their individual interpretations of the title. No one was required to think of "blue" in terms of sorry, but primarily, the artists did so.

It creates a community of melancholy expressions. But the cumulative result is anything but depressing.

Perhaps the shared experience and the richness of the expressions produce the joyful results within the blue, said Alison Hatcher, curator of the exhibit.

Think of a great sad song, she suggested. She titled the theme after a line in the Irving Berlin song, "What'll I Do."

Or, she offered, think of the goodness in the pain of separation - the longing that stings only because of the affection toward the missing person.

Or a missing pet.

Kevin Strandberg honors his now-deceased cat in his fused-glass piece titled "Sparky's Gone …" A snake and a man are in the foreground, a cat in the background. A sadness comes with passing, but a memory of companionship is made vivid.

Strandberg writes: "Visually, he was a striking cat; a reverse tabby with silver stripes on a darker grey body - looking more like a walking X-ray than a substantial figure. As is the relationship between pet and owner for many people, Sparky was my most devoted friend during a rough stretch in my life."

Tony Preston-Schreck, through his piece "untitled portal," enables the visitor to recapture an experience.

He made a box 13 inches by 13 inches and 8 inches deep and topped it with grass and dirt from his yard. A peephole from a door is embedded in the grass. Get on all fours to peer into the peephole and you see the sky - actually, a video of the sky - being played on a miniature DVD screen.

Preston-Schreck has re-created the childhood experience of lying in the grass and looking at the sky. The cheek feels the blades; the nose detects the soil.

It may evoke a sadness for an age that cannot be recovered or in facing mortality. But one could take a religious, perhaps Christian perspective, Preston-Schreck said. Instead of looking into a grave or into the finite, the peephole delivers a view of infinite.

Hatcher curates an exhibit like this every other year, always in the fall, inviting university faculty, Illinois State University graduate students and other artists she has worked with over the years. The last was 2005's "Dorothy's Red Shoes."

This year brought a record response. Pieces arrived from New York, London and other far-away places, but most came from the region.

The topic put no prerequisites on the artists, and sorrow wasn't foregone.

In a Sarah Stonefoot photograph, an open book is set upon a radiator. Light from an open window beams through the pages. Blue, for her, meant calm contemplation.

Painter Michael Dubina deliberately strayed from sadness because the topic leaned so obviously toward it.

He portrayed physical cold through "Blue November," a landscape oil painting. A single vehicle drives on a cold autumn day at twilight. Leafless trees, water that appears to be frozen and the blue of the atmosphere all give seasonal clues.

Dubina's painting exemplifies another result of the invitational exhibits: They often bring artists to unfamiliar places. In Dubina's case, it altered his style and color palate. Usually, his scenes are bright and portray dusk.

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123-artist exhibit

"… and i am blue …" is an exhibit by invited artists, most of whom submitted works that are for sale. The exhibit runs through Dec. 22 at the McLean County Arts Center.

The center is located in the cultural district in the northeast corner of downtown Bloomington.

Free admission: donation requested.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.