Successful ShowA great deal of work goes into setting up your own art show . We could not have done it without the incredible support from family and friends. The undying energy of everyone that helped carry, unwrap, organize, and position paintings. (Watch for foot salts at Christmas, appropriately placed in your stockings.) Thanks for the emotional support when I was overcome with details and mental fatigue. My wife and I have always looked after ourselves and accomplished life's challenges together. This time in our lives and the magnitude of effort it took could not have been accomplished without your help. My wife, daughter and my brother need special recognition. Thank you from my heart, your effort made the event successful. There are unseen roadblocks to consider when you set up your own show. Things you do not expect can derail your success. Check details carefully. We booked rooms at a country club thinking we could have access to their 10,000 members. Turned out they have artists members and it would not fit their policies to promote our show in their news letter. People at a club are used to private functions and feel like they are crashing the event so they tend to shy away. The rooms are for weddings and personal functions so extra cost went into lighting to properly showcase the paintings. In saying this it was well worth the effort with the facility size and ambiance adding to make the show amazing.
Look for another show? Absolutely! Negotiating with the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre in Camrose for a one man show September 9 2023
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There is still LifeDarcy leopold polny |
Oct 28th: 6 pm to 9 pm, Opening Reception Oct 29-30: 1 pm to 6 pm The Derrick Golf and Winter Club 3500 119 St NW in Edmonton AB |
Some people wait a life time for a moment like this. My wife said I should focus on the beauty of a painting not in what I don't like or could have done better. Every piece is a culmination of learned effects and mistakes that turn out to be the beauty transferred to the next work. I see the beauty and also see the progress. It is hard to separate the mind and the desire to achieve a goal from the final product. There is always the "Oh could I have done that a better way?" I am happy with this one, "Oh but wait... I have to do another one!" |
Feb 14 2020 I wrote about retirement and the change in life and the feeling of identity loss. In 2021 the identity loss is affected by a new catalyst, Covid 19! It has changed me in a way I wouldn't have expected. It has isolated me from who I am. I had to cancel my art show last May, pulled away by the pandemic from friends and social events. I have always thought of myself as fully functional without the need to have a great deal of human contact but the events of the past few years tell me otherwise. Maybe I do need the occasional head rub or slap on the back. What's also missing is the giveback. Slap someone on the back and give them a head noogy.
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A slap on the back and a head noogy from me to you |
The long awaited watercolour art show "There is Still Life", is set to take place October 28, 29, 30 2022. The Derrick Golf and Winter Club, 3500 119 St NW in Edmonton has been chosen as the event venue. The atmosphere and friendly staff make this a perfect showcase for my work. The Derrick Club provides amenities to the community that help add to the quality of life for it's members. My mother worked here as a waitress years ago providing us with the essentials of life. My show "There is Still Life" reflects these qualities.
I take discarded objects that I find in antique stores and repurpose them by placing them in settings that give them new life. With all the unpleasantness in the world as an artist I want to create a body of work that people will find some amazement, in a pleasant way. |
There is a story to be seen in everything created by nature and man that takes the viewer on a personal journey |
In our graphic design business, we have owned and operated for twenty five years, there were jobs that became very stressful. The last two years were particularly trying. The details became overwhelming and the complexity created cognitive fatigue. I could no longer take the stress and organize my thoughts. I would breakdown in tears or get angry because I could not communicate my ideas or thoughts to my partner.
It became obvious to me that it was time to retire but this created another problem. I went to art school became an art director in advertising agencies and then opened my own business and that is who I was for forty years. My identity stopped. I became depressed and lost. I needed to focus so I finished my basement, laminate floors and hung ceilings and then worked on my cabin and bought an old motorhome that had to be refurbished and...well you get the picture. This all helped distract me but there was still an underlying problem. I had to decide what I was, who I was. I have always been an artist and produced illustrations and paintings that have sold in galleries and directly to clients. I have worked in acrylics, oils, and pastels. I needed to change things up and dove brush first into full time painting. Changing my medium to watercolours gave me new life and new inspiration. It has changed my life. I am not trying to paint for a gallery or a client. I am painting what I want and creating what makes me happy. I found who I am and who I should be. Our daughter introduced my wife Lea and I to meditation. I am in no way a spiritual thinker but the technique of relaxing your mind and being in the moment is amazing. The past and the future exist only in your mind. Let it go. Thanks Lisa. Namaste. Who knew that retiring would create a feeling of loss and depression but the experience helped when it was time for my wife to retire. I understood what was happening to her and we worked through it together and are still working through the problem of self worth. I am a lucky man to have the family I do and the life I live. |
"I could no longer take the stress and organize my thoughts." |
Darcy Polny artist
November 2022
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March 2022
January 2022
October 2021
February 2020
September 2018