Excited to have a show of my art here in Camrose. The show starts September 8 and will have a meet and greet Sept 22, 5:00pm to 7pm. 20% of sales go to support the performing arts centre. I will be giving away free children's books to the first 50 children. Stay Away From the Barn and Jelly Bean Jake. 

   A friend of mine taught me how to walk the badlands near Drumheller and comb the hills for fossils that lay on the ground. He said you only see what you are looking at. You can be a quarter inch from a dinosaur tooth and not see it. Art has the same property I discovered. We were sitting around at a dinner and one of the people at the table asked me what I paint. Before I could answer someone blurted,"He paints flowers." that is what they saw. My still lifes do contain organics that fit that description but what I paint are settings of discarded objects in an attempt to have people see that there is still life in these objects if you look at them through fresh eyes. Every piece of art is viewed by each person differently. I had a couple over and they viewed all twenty five of my watercolours and asked if they could tell me their favourite. I said sure. They picked two that were only flower representations. She is an avid gardener and these paintings struck a cord with her. Not everyone sees and reacts to the same thing in a painting. This is why a show is important, to reach every appetite and have someone find what they look at and what there minds eye appreciates.
   In saying this it is with regret that my show scheduled for April 23 will postponed until the fall. Time yet to be determined. 

It has been awhile since I have been inspired to create a new painting.  I have two large watercolours started because I lost momentum in the last work. Generally I work on one piece at a time in that way mood and momentum can be kept at an honest pitch. The assembly line method has the danger of bringing the same feeling to each painting hampering the opportunity to improve with each work by creating individual flavours.
The new painting has invigorated the creative process and the renewed energy will transfer to both paintings. The included images show the transition from background to foreground.
I work on stretched 156 lb cold pressed Archers watercolour paper on 3/4" primed plywood. Unprimed wood may tint your paper from the back. I have had too many failures with taping the paper to the board so I use a power stapler and staple every inch around the wetted paper. Soaking the paper for 10 minutes does the trick for me. ​The paper is so heavy that when it dries the tapes snap. It takes a bit of time to get the staples out but a rubber hammer and a filed down screwdriver work very well.
All this is working toward an Art show April 23-25 in Edmonton.... more information to come
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View paintings at darcyleopoldpolny.ca