There’s good and bad news concerning this year’s Artists’ Open Studio Tour. The good news is that the number of studios you can visit on May 22 and 23 from Discovery Bay to Pittsburg has grown to 41 from last year’s 23. Plus you’ll get an additional two hours this year to take them all in because the hours have been extended from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. versus last year’s closing time of 5 p.m.

The bad news is that East County art lovers, aficionados and mavens who want to visit every studio will have even less time to spend at each one. Last year you could dally no longer than 36½ minutes at each studio in order to take them all in – provided, that is, that you have a Star Trek-like teleporter to instantly travel between venues. This year, even with the extra two hours, you’ll be able to stick around no longer than 23½ minutes at each venue. And when you factor in the driving time, you could be down in the single digits per studio.

If you do get to them all, you’ll likely be impressed by the quantity, quality and variety of artistic sensibilities on display from 62 artists working in a variety of media, including acrylics, watercolor, digital photography, children’s art, clay, oil, aqueous mixed media, jewelry, hats, pastel, colored pencil, painted glass, bronze sculpture, ceramics, metal, stone, stained glass, pottery, Chinese brush painting, wood, fiber arts, graphite, charcoal, hand-knit fiber, silks and cashmere.

The good news is that if you can’t make it to them all, certain studios will provide more bang for your aesthetic buck. The largest payoff comes with a drive to the Art Shack at 31 Marina Blvd. in Pittsburg, where seven artists will have their work on display. On your way back you might want to drop by 3943 Rockford Drive in Antioch, which will bag you three more artists in one trip. And you might want to check out East County’s newest artistic venue, Peterson Studios, 3637 Main St. in downtown Oakley, where another three artists will provide their wares.

If you get tired of looking at art by grownups, you can stop by those who have only recently met the muse: the Brentwood students’ art show at 7760-B Brentwood Blvd. in Sunset Plaza.

And if you prefer to look before you leap into the tour, you can sample art by the tour artists at The Lynn House Gallery, 809 West First St. in Antioch, from noon to 5 p.m. on Fridays, May 14 and 21 and Saturday, May 15. The gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 22 and 23.

Several artists at the opening reception last Friday noted the growth in this year’s tour. “The PR is amazing for the price,” said Antioch artist Bill Paskewitz, when asked why he joined the tour. “And it’s a sense of community. And we all desperately need that out here.”

The Wizard of Art running the show is Brentwood sculptor Jack Gaughan, who spoke up at an art tour planning meeting a few years ago when the event was still struggling. “They were saying that maybe we should just drop it,” he said. “I said, ‘You’re not doing it right.’ And, of course, that’s the worst thing to say in a meeting with a whole bunch of people. They said, ‘OK, put up or shut up.’”

Put up he did, designing a slick brochure with listings of the artists, samples of their art and maps showing the locations of their studios, designing a Web site, arranging for advertising and the hundreds of other things necessary to herd these art cats. “The people on the tour have all been very helpful,” he said. “They yell at me when I do something wrong and applaud it when they think it’s right. We’ve had good feedback. And I think they are pleased with it; and I’m pleased with it too.”

Gaughan thinks you’ll be pleased as well if you visit the studios. To provide an incentive to visit more locations, he’s providing an entry in a drawing for $450 worth of gift cards for every 10 venues visited. “I think that people will be pleasantly surprised if they don’t know about the artists in the community,” he said. “We have a wide range of disciplines and skills. Most of them are high-end skills. There are a couple that are still beginning. I had one that was a beginner last year, and now she’s doing some work that just knocks my eyes out.”

So, you’ve been forewarned: bring an extra pair of eyeballs in case yours also get knocked out along the tour. For more information, including maps to the studios, go online to www.artistsopenstudiotour.com, e-mail Jack Gaughan at jack@artistsopenstudiotour.com or call 925-513-3863.