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!