Perspective and house portraits

This is an idea that recently came up with a client who was trying to decide on which picture to use for a house portrait.

They really liked a picture that showed the house straight on with the fence in front. The top of the fence created an even line straight across the canvas field. This was a nice picture and if it was what they wanted, I would have made the best of it since I am working for the customer and I aim to please.

What I did though was draw two basic pictures. Each had a cube representing the house, with a line in front, representing the top of the fence.

#1 and #2.

When I stare at #1 the shapes are flat and almost seem to push back on me, maybe they represent a bulldozer coming at me, but when I look at #2 with the perspective, after a while, all by themselves my eyes are pulled into the picture plane, specifically my eyes try to see what it behind the cube.

I could make a pretty picture with a composition based on #1, but it would be limited in its effect on the viewer.

Try it for yourself!

The Art Harvest festival in Dunedin Florida was a blast!

Last week, I made it to Dunedin, in the Clearwater area to participate in the Art Harvest put on by the Junior league of Clearwater-Dunedin Fl. I made a lot of connections, was inspired by all of the artists, and even sold a few things. I hope I can make it back there next year. Doing markets is a great way to find out Hat pieces people respond to, and helps me refine my business sense and be better prepared for the next one. I sold one of my morning flowers that I usually keep in my tent just for me. I am sensitive, and when people aren’t stopping at my tent for a while, I’ll look at the flower and get back to feeling grateful. Anyway, a few people commented on it, but the last person to do so was in the morning of the second day. I just had the feeling that this person deserved it, so thats where it went.

Wooden Boat festival 2025!

Next month I am proud to announce that I will be a vendor at the 2025 Wooden boat festival in Madisonville Louisiana! I will be out there with my oil paintings, framed and unframed watercolors, gauche paintings and stationary items. Of course like any self respecting New Orleanian, Ill be ready to talk your ears off!

https://maritimemuseumlouisiana.org/woodenboatfestival

I am looking foreword to meeting new friends and I hope to see you out there.

Scheming…

Always working an angle, thinking about the next project which might be anything. The project of going to see shows, of getting in a retail space, or several. Tiny projects like putting together a batch of notecards, because a person buying something is better than nothing, and at least I made it to their refrigerator.

The project of filling the calendar with the steps it will take for me to get into a large festival.

The project of accumulating an email list, and then the project of figuring out what to do with that email list once it is assembled.

The project of NOT USING social media as a means of getting Buisness to come my way.

The project of paying people to jury my work to maybe or maybe not let me join their club and sell art along side the artists in their group.

THEN there is the project of finishing the current oil painting and making the watercolors that will go in the frames I just made from reclaimed wood in the backyard summer heat.

On top of all of that, the project of remembering to be grateful, and to visualize that I am already successful in my own skin, that I have a family who loves me. It’s easy to see problems and lists, it’s the growth that needs to be acknowledged. Looked at, appreciated.

8-12-25

Drawing, fumbling, rendering

I love Drawing, It is the most basic form of art making I know of, and it is the foundation of everything that comes after. Every aspect of art making that is not color related can be studied with a notebook and a basic #2 pencil. Line, value, composition, shading, all come from here.

I love learning, and keeping myself in a class of some sort, but being in a family means other things sometimes come first. Lately, the best I can figure out is to go to a life drawing group. There is no instruction, just struggling in a group, like a CrossFit gym, except drawing, erasing, measuring, and trying again. It starts out with ten two minute gesture drawings. This really challenges my sense of control, as in, I want to control everything and make it perfect. The more I do it, the more I realize this is not what these exercises are for. They are a warm up to understand the most basic lines of the figure standing before you.

These pictures are the result of one evening. Please don’t judge, this is a window into the realm of learning, of struggle, of growth. I think this is why we are humans in the first place, to learn and grow beyond the limits we learned as a child, and this is how I do it.

Gestures are incredibly hard. The timer works like a metronome, forcing you to make decisions.

The Morning ritual

It’s not easy being a full time artist, drummer, handyman, and family member that currently has a teenage artist who needs time and emotional support from their parents.

One thing that helps me to focus and be available to be creative is writing the morning pages. Most days, I’ll wake up between five or six, make some coffee, and go downstairs for the ritual.

I start by writing three pages, whatever is up there. “Nobody took the trash out. I missed a deadline. I am grateful for X. I wish I was better at Y. I like this, I dont like that” sometimes I will remember a dream and write that down. The point is to try and empty my head so that I can have space for what needs to get done. I have been writing the pages almost every day since early January of 2025 and they have made a big difference to me this year. This exercise came to me from doing an Artists Way group. The Artist Way is a book by Julia Cameron that is a twelve week course designed to unblock creative energy, and I can attest that it works.

After the pages, I will use my watercolors to attempt a painting of a flower. Flowers are the universe’s way of telling us it is not cynical. Painting one, is my daily ode to the creator, who gave me the gift of creativity. Being creative and painting the flower is my gift back to it.

At this point, it is time to take care of the dogs, eat breakfast and get going with the day. Doing this ritual helps keep me focused on what is important, My family, spirituality, creativity, relationships, health and financial responsibilities. Give it a try!

Reference photos from the marsh

Being a Louisiana artist, most of the reference photos for my paintings of the marsh and the different work boats come from fishing trips. The easiest place to fish in the saltwater without leaving the city is a short drive to lake Pontchartrain in the north side of the city. For me this area is limited for painting and short on solitude. Getting away from the city is half the reason for going to the marsh. The other half is to get as many reference photos as possible and possibly catch some dinner too.

The Yclosky Hopedale area is full of oyster and shrimp boats along with fishing camps and docks for the boats of fishing guides.  Sometimes on our way to Delacroix Island an area southwest of Hopedale, I will just point and shoot the camera out of the car window while driving and capture images like these.

You never know what you’ll find in pictures like these. The last pic, boat on the right is possibly the smallest crab boat I’ve seen. I can really look close at the equipment on the boats and see what is there.

It’s more than likely no artwork will come from pictures like these, but I enjoy the spontaneity and going back through them when I get home to look at the details. These images show  a sense of place. Anyone who has been there a tell this is Louisiana. This concept is something I have been trying to get better at. Instead of painting the front of a house, I would like to paint the same house in a New Orleans neighborhood. Instead of a picture of a boat, I want a picture of Delacroix Louisiana with boats in it.

Today, I will have to chalk this post up as working on my art career. The rain is really coming down outside. We are currently in the middle of June, and we are getting heavy thunderstorms almost every day. Now is the time where we start paying attention the weather in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and watch the storms off of Africa.  It’s time to make sure the generator is ready to go and we have extra gas and plywood laying around.

Thanks for spending time on my Blog, Sean

Summertime is the time to start thinking about the next season.

We are getting into official summertime here in New Orleans. It’s in the 90’s and we are getting into a heavy rainstorm almost every day. The grass wants to be mowed every week and a half and I’ve got a teenager out of school who needs a dad to make them go to the gym and get them away from that screen. That being said, now is also the time to create and scheme how I am going to get myself in the Wooden boat festival this October with my original watercolors, oil paintings and fine art prints. I am not the artist who wants to make a painting because I think it will sell, but I have lived my whole life being able to hear the call of seagulls from the comfort of my bedroom. My great great grandmother was an Isleños canary islander whose family was sent to settle St. Bernard parish by the spanish monarchy. Back then, the family name was Acevedos and they were settled in Ysklosky on the east coast of Louisiana. I feel my roots there, and that area is a hub of oystermen and shrimpers. In another life, I would have been on one of those boats. Before I met my wife and started a family, I was out there four afternoons a week in my little boat, catching fish and feeding them to my neighbors on Clio st.

What Im saying is, I think the Boat festival is a good fit and I dont think by painting the boats in Ysclosky I am sacrificing my artistic integrity. I’ve got a lot of work to do between now and the end of September when I need to be ready. Here’s to a lite hurricane season!

No distractions please!

Holiday Art Market

Learning

I found a design book. My daughter and I did a few exercises thinking about shapes and shape manipulation.

I love her

I found this amazing lady on youtube. Her name is Dona Angela and her channel is “Por Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina”

After watching the first short video, I couldn’t look away. I just love people who share information. She uses her heart and I always find that inspiring.

Musicians

I have been playing music all my life. Since 1996 I have been a working Jazz drummer in New Orleans. I often find inspiration on the bandstand. I am inspired by the music, itself, the chemistry in the band and the friendships I have made.

Image to the left is obviously Louis Armstrong. In the middle there is perhaps lesser known group of some of my favorite players in town; The Gentilly Stompers. lead by Catie Rogers. The last one is my buddy Jason.

Painting Houses

This summer I spent some time painting houses blue and painting blue houses.

Drawing

I have been trying to get a few pencil sketches in here and there. The one on the right is my fishing buddy. Don’t worry, I didn’t do this while on the boat. The middle picture is a guy I saw on Bayou St. John racing sailboats. The last one is a small footbridge at city park.

I am constantly working on trying to improve my ability to draw. This is the basis of being able to make a good painting.