Looking for the right image gallery widget

I am building a graphic design blog. I am looking for a way for my latest work to be added to a list of 2 or 3 “latest works” in the left-hand column. I would like them to show an image from the post.

I tried a Gallery Widget that pulls images from my media folder, but I can’t seem to figure out how to specify which posts get shown in there and which ones don’t. this is important because many of my posts will have images, but won’t be my latest work.

Can anyone mention a good widget for me?

Thanks