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Welcome back to The Artist is In, the podcast where we go beneath the surface of the creative process to talk about the real stories behind the work. I'm your host, Kat Collins. Today we're shifting gears, literally and figuratively, with my guest Sean Carney, a representational painter based in New Jersey. Sean's work lives at the bold intersection of pop art and photorealism. centering on one of the most iconic symbols of American culture, the automobile. Through gleaming chrome, reflective curves, and intricate detail, Sean paints cars not just as machines, but as metaphors for progress, memory, desire, and ambition. His tools? Not just brushes and canvas, but minwax wood stain and a Dremel. His process is uniquely his own.

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and his perspective invites us to look closer, to find meaning in the moment of pause. In this episode, we'll talk about where nostalgia meets precision, how an unconventional process can reveal deep truth, and what it means to let go of expectations in pursuit of creative freedom. Sean, welcome. Thanks for coming on the podcast. I'm good. I'm good. So we'll talk a couple better things here.

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talk a couple better things here. First, I want to ask if you could share your story of how you first fell in love with painting and eventually found your way to this very distinctive process using wood stain and a Dremel.

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For sure. So,

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my mom was somewhat of a... So, my mom was somewhat of a kiddie. She, you know, she moved to Jamaica when she started 18. She was there for a few years. Then moved to Puerto Rico and went there for a few years. And she was just very artsy and just, you know, free spirit. And so when I was a kid, I was pushed more in the direction of art classes and having art tutors rather than how we tend to push our kids more into sports. You know, so initially it might not have been completely my idea, but, you know, every kid loves to create art. And I just was kind of... It was nurtured more in my household. So, yeah, and there was always art in my house, sculptures, paintings. And so I grew up in a house that really adores the arts.

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Mm -hmm.

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So that's how it started. Even in high school, my mom signed me up. I grew up near Newark Airport or Giant Stadium. Okay. That's actually in that corridor of Burton County, right on the cusp of New York City. And so starting sophomore year in high school, I would take the PATH train into New York and I would take classes at SVA on the weekends and all summer long. And I did that all through high school, starting my sophomore year.

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So how did you get involved with the process of using wood stain and a Dremel? So like a lot of other artists,

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a lot of other artists, I never really had a whole lot of money. I worked in restaurants for a lot.

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restaurants for a lot. And initially, when I was working in restaurants, I would bring little pieces of watercolor paper with me, and I would do paintings with, you know, coffee, tea, and wine. And I'm just obsessed with paintings with, you know, coffee, tea, and wine. And I'm just obsessed with just painting in general. So I would just paint with whatever I could get my hands on. And I had a professor in college who told me, like, if it stains your teeth, it'll stain the paper. So you could use almost anything to paint. So I kind of made it my thing into trying to paint with, you know, alternate materials. So the wood stain happened because it was the first real house that my wife and I bought. We were doing some renovations and my father -in -law was putting in a new stairwell. And there was a piece of stair left behind and some water -based wood stain. And so I said, all right, there's some wood stain left over. Let me do a painting. And so I did a painting on the wood with the wood stain. And I said, wow, this stuff is really fantastic to paint with. And then that was it. I started making wood stain paintings. And I never looked back. I had been showing already in a gallery in Philadelphia my oil paintings and my watercolors. But I felt like I was competing with some of these artists that have been painting for like 30 years. And I was still, I was younger then. And I was a novice and I didn't want to compete with them. So by showing these wood stain paintings, it at least put me into like a subcategory. And I was really just kind of competing with myself because I was the only, I think I was the only person using wood stain, at least in Philadelphia at the time.

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You're the only one I know that does it. And I love your work. It's amazing.

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Appreciate that. And I feel the same about your work. No, thank you. So excited for this podcast. No, thank you. I'm so excited for this podcast. It's a shame because I've reached out to Minwax multiple times. I've been teaching painting now for 25 years. I teach public high school. That's my day job. I teach painting. And I teach everything from oil to gouache to watercolor and acrylic, anything. And I think Minwax slash Sherman Williams is really missing the ball. I'm like... They just have to take their same product and market it to artists. And artists are always looking to try the next thing and the newest material. I think they're missing a big demographic there. And I reach out to them often. I mean, I have plenty of wood stain paintings as examples.

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Yeah, well, hopefully at some point they take the initiative and get on that. Yeah, definitely as artists, we tend to pick up everything to use in art. So I know recently you started painting automobiles, which is something different for you. So what drew you to them as your primary subject? So I really love just painting in general.

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really love just painting in general. I mean, I love painting. I painted buildings for about 15 years, cityscapes. But within that, I was still mixing in my cityscapes and I would paint some boats and then I would get commissioned to do some portraits. Originally, when I got my degree, my BFA was in figure and portrait painting. But I realized I just really loved to paint. I started painting city scenes a long time ago in Philadelphia because the gallantist had said to me, you know, if you want to sell paintings, paintings of Independence Hall and the Water... If you want to sell paintings, paintings of Independence Hall and the Waterworks and, you know, City Hall in Philly. That's what's going to sell. And I needed to make some money, so I painted those things. And then I fell in love with painting cities. I would say probably about two years ago, I was getting this itch to just do something completely different. And so I had done some different style paintings with cities, and I changed up some things that I was doing, and nothing really hit. And I wasn't sharing it. And I explain this to my students all the time. There's, you know, there's a lot of failures. in my studio, things that I don't show. Maybe they're failures to me, but maybe someone else would enjoy them, but nothing else really hit right. But my family and I had gone up to Saratoga Springs, New York. There's a gallery there, Spa Fine Art, that I show some paintings with. And so I wanted them to see the gallery and I wanted them to see the city. So we went up as a family and we were just there on a little mini vacation. And I said, let's go to the automobile museum. And we went to the Automobile Museum and there were paintings there. And they were beautiful paintings. And I said, I wouldn't have imagined seeing paintings there. And the director of the museum had told me that a bunch of them had already just sold. And so my wife said, well, I guess you probably need more paintings. And he kind of laughed. And I said, well, you know what? I'm going to make some car paintings. I'll share them with you. And if you like them, then maybe, you know, you'll show them here. And so I went home and I started painting cars. And I mean, they're beautiful. Cars are beautiful. I'm not a car kid. I couldn't tell you the difference between all the multitude of Mustangs and Corvettes. I mean, I'm learning quickly. Sure. I'm not a car guy, but I could recognize. I mean, I'm learning quickly. Sure. I'm not a car guy, but I could recognize, you know, beauty. I see how beautiful the designs are. And I like painting representational things. And at the same time, and I've explained this to my students, and I almost feel like they didn't believe me because my paintings are always, you know, realistic. And I would tell them, like, but I really love non -objective and abstract art. I'm like, you don't understand. I love. But I've never been. It's harder. And I try to tell them it's harder than people imagine.

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Like, I don't like when people look at paintings and they think,

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I don't like when people look at paintings and they think, oh, that's so easy to do. Anyone can do that. And I'm like, if you're really. interested in painting and making a good painting that you understand that it's very difficult so this was my this was my chance i was like i'm going to paint a car but i don't want to paint you know a realistic background with it and i said okay my love of non -objective art it's going to come into play here this is my chance to do a mixture of both i can i can pay a homage to my abstract artists and that passion that I have for that genre of art, but still get my fix with the representational art and, you know, realism. So that's how this was born.

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That's a great combination. I love the mixture of, you know, pop art, that abstract feeling, but yet there's something to hold on to in there, too, because you recognize what's there. And so I always liked that combination.

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For sure. And I guess this must be also, I'm like combining all these genres, but maybe it's just me like trying to honor all these genres, but maybe it's just me like trying to honor all these different, you know, areas of art that I respect so much.

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Sure. Well, you said these paintings appear traditional from a distance. You know, we've talked about the photorealism that you can obviously tell what it is. but they reveal something entirely different up close. So what does that moment of realization mean to you as an artist?

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So for a lot of my paintings, for a very long time, I would draw, and then I would do a base stain on top of my drawing. The stain that I use is very transparent. So when you put one coat of stain, you can still see the pencil from underneath. And then I would carve out the highlights. And so from a distance, it would look just completely flat. But then when you get up close, you could see there's some relief. There's some dimension. Lately, depending on the season, I don't carve until the summertime. So I go back and forth. So my show right now, and I have a show opening Thursday, thankfully. Congratulations. That's great. None of them are treble, though, for this one, unfortunately. During the wintertime in my studio, if I do carving, I get dust all over the studio. And I guess I can figure out a way to, you know, type it out. But I really just do most of my carving in the warmer weather. And so now I'll be working on some more solid pieces of wood and I'll start doing some carving. So those are the ones that really look different. I think if you look at a wood stain painting, it's going to look like an acrylic painting. So the only way that they're going to be, you know. Shock that there's no carving is when they read the label. Shock that there's no carving is when they read the label and they see wood stain. And I always find that funny. People do get confused.

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Well, they do. I mean, when you typically think of wood stain, you think your traditional brown shades of color. But you have the whole array of color that you pull from. And so I think that kind of throws people off. And you think, oh, I can actually. heat with this you know so it's a very different type type of technique what challenges or freedoms come with using these materials you mentioned this the dust is one of them yeah that's really when i went into carving outside of carving can i so i mix all of my colors for the most part on one day i put i i buy the primary colors so just red yellow blue white and black

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that's really when i went into carving outside of carving can i so i mix all of my colors for the most part on one day i put i i buy the primary colors so just red yellow blue white and black And I pour them from the Minwax cans into, I buy empty ketchup bottles. Okay. So I fill up these ketchup bottles and then I take little cups with lids. And I probably have in my studio, and I'll send you a picture of it, but I probably have, you know, 400 cups, all different colors. Wow. And so I spend one day and I mix like 400 colors. And they last me six months to a year. Wow. And so I think that's part of the reason why I can just, I make a lot of paintings. Yeah, you do. I don't have to think about, all right, I need this. I need to make this blue. I just turn and grab it. Right. I have all these colors right there. And it is tedious because if I want something to be solid, it is tedious because if I want something to be solid, I really need to put six, seven coats of paint, of stain, I should say, six, seven coats of stain. But sometimes that's nice because you want to be able to build up to the color you want or maybe you want some of that washiness. So even when I worked with acrylic, I would often water down my acrylic with medium because I wanted to work in transparent layers. So when I moved to wood stain, It just was naturally already there for me like that. It is already a transparent medium.

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Sure. I was going to ask you, if you had to build up to get the solid colors that you get, do you often layer different colors that way?

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Oh, for sure. All the time. Very cool. Yeah, and that's one of the best. It blends so easily into each other, so it's easier to do some gradients. Some things I cannot do. There's certain colors that are hard to get where I think if I'm working with oil or acrylic, I probably can get more accurate colors. Okay. So with the wood stain I am, sometimes I am missing some shades of blue or red, but that's okay. I managed to get it to work.

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There's always a workaround. Yeah. So you have mentioned you work within the aesthetics of both pop art and photorealism and paying homage to abstract and different genres. How do you see your work in conversation with those traditions?

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love to paint. And so the conversation I have tends to be with the artists that just make a lot of art. And I think I just, that you, you get better. And it's the way I explain that to sometimes to my students. I try not to lead them in any direction, but I say the best teacher is just keep making a lot of art. Yes, absolutely. And that's it. So I just, so pop art, so pop art, I'm not. I mean, I probably like Lichtenstein is probably, you know, the one that I really look at. I think when you look at the backgrounds, you can see some of that.

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know,

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A lot of living artists I'm a fan of. People that are working currently. I have a friend, Caitlin Liebens. She does, you know, art edge abstraction with masking tape. And I'm a... Big fan of her work. I'm a big fan of your work, Kat. I really love the way you use color and your texture and your paints. Robert C. Jackson does these still lives with animals and food. And I love how happy his work is. And it's got this real Americana to it. So he probably influences me. Another artist, Mel Leipzig. So I have these living artists and they're all from all different genres. But so long as you're making art and you're a relatively good person, that's kind of what I'm into.

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That's not a bad thing to be into at all. At all. So talking about the car scene. What do cars represent to you beyond their visual appeal? Are they symbolic or of something larger like time, identity, or memory, or anything? I think it's becoming that.

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that. It's becoming that. When it first started, it just happened to be a fortuitous moment of me being someplace and seeing there was art there and the potential for me to show more work and make more work. But now that I'm really getting into it, I'm learning about the subculture of car collecting, of exotic cars. I'm seeing how passionate car collectors are. And I can see how it parallels art collectors and galleries. And so I'm learning a little bit about it. I could always appreciate when someone is passionate about the art of those objects, of those cars. When I went to the, I want to say it's the museum down in Philadelphia, it's their car museum. And they really, they have an art gallery there with a collection of all artwork inspired by cars where the person, the gentleman who started that museum really believed that cars in itself were works of art. And obviously not these mass produced, you know, I'm sure my Honda is not technically work of art, but somebody. put a lot of effort into designing that. And that was an artist who designed that car. So I guess I just appreciate any kind of art. No, I agree with that. I guess I just appreciate any kind of art.

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No, I agree with that. My cousins on my mom's side were big collectors of cars. They showed in car parades every year down in Florida and all over the country. So I can understand the appreciation. They had Model T Fords and old Mustangs and things along those lines. So, yeah, I get it.

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Yeah. So I'll go back up to the museum on Thursday or Thursday night for the show and I'll take more pictures and I'll find cars that I find interesting. And, you know, I probably take a lot of photo references. I like to have all my pictures that I take. I'll probably take. Out of a thousand pictures, there's ten that I'll paint. You know, there's so many that I wind up not. It just has to be something about that particular photograph that I took. Maybe the way the light is on the object. The light is on the car, rather, and on the foot. And the way that, you know, angles and lines look. But the same thing could happen if I start painting, you know, lending machines. Or, you know, not to say that I don't care, but I just love painting. Sure. And it could... eventually turn into other things. I mean, I'm already trying to imagine what else I would do in the future, but I plan on doing this for a little while. I'm not rushing off to the next thing yet.

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Sure, sure. So to me, it sounds as though it's more about the process and act of painting than it is your subject matter. So the subject matter helps feed that desire to paint and gives you a joy to focus on it. But it's really about the process.

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Yeah. I just love to paint. It just makes me so happy. Process. Yeah. I just love to paint. It just makes me so happy. God. And that's why I think I make a lot of paintings. Sometimes I think I'll tell people, I'll get in my studio sometimes on a Sunday if I don't have any fatherly responsibilities or husbandly duties. I'll get to the studio sometimes in the morning and eight hours go by and I didn't even realize. Yeah. Yeah.

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That moment of flow where it just happens.

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Yeah. Yeah. So I paint every moment I possibly can get it. I paint before work. I paint during my lunch. I paint right after school. On the weekend mornings, I grab my cup of coffee. That's my favorite. When I can paint with like an actual cup of coffee in a mug. Yeah. I'm very happy to play into music.

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It sounds like the perfect place to be. Yeah.

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So your medium and your technique. often require extreme precision, yet also a surrender to the unexpected. So in what ways has your practice taught you how to let go?

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I try to bring my work to a certain level of realism, but at the same time, I wonder if I could get to the hyper -realistic, and I think that I could. But at the same time, as I'm working on one painting, I'm thinking about the next 10 paintings that I want to make. And I never run out of things to paint. And so I think I get to a level of, okay, this looks pretty good. And I'm very happy with it. I can continue to make it more realistic. Or I could move on to the next painting. More realistic. Or I could... move on to the next painting and i i tend to like you know not want to spend too much time on one and i want to move on to what's what's next because i have just i i have all these ideas and right now i'm i'm worried i'm going to run out of things to paint on so now i'm trying not to order more boards and so yeah i think i think i don't get to the hyper realism because i just want to get on to what's next I'm not, I never, and I tell my, I never run out of things to paint. They're always, it's always there. I'm not going to have painter's block. At least I don't think I'm going to have painter's block anytime soon. Maybe never based off of the way that I like to work.

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Yeah. Can you talk about the tension between control and spontaneity in your process? Because you do have a pre -designed look that you're going for with the car and the photo references. But is there... A tension between how much control you have to have and does it leave room for spontaneity in what you do?

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Oh, for sure. Well, that's what the backgrounds are to me. The backgrounds are just kind of like, I decide on the last second, I make these shapes. And as I'm putting shapes down in the background, I'm like, okay, well, I think I want this line over here. The backgrounds are completely unplanned. And even when I'm filling in, I draw them out first. And then I just randomly turn around. I'm like, okay, I'm going to grab these four colors. Look like they're going to work together. And just on this newest painting I'm working on, the whole lower half, I painted four coats of paint. Then I'm like, I don't like this color. So let me redo it and paint four more coats on top of a different color. So let me redo it and paint four more coats on top of a different color. And then, oh, now I like it. So the backgrounds are where I get to be. more spontaneous the car itself i mean they're pretty they're pretty realistic i try to match my photograph as close as i can but like i said some colors like i i can't get this particular blue but sometimes if i can't get a particular blue i try to put two colors next to each other that might fool the eye into thinking i got the right blue so i'll i'll i'll play with color a little bit that way so i have to have I have to give up sometimes and I'm not going to get certain things right. But I try to get as close as I can on the car, especially for these car lovers. I mean, they'll look and they'll say, hey, there's nine spokes. There should be 10. They're very into their cars. They know. They do. So I have to try to get that right.

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So in that perspective, you have to have that control and that focus.

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Yeah, but I don't take it. I mean, I give myself an out. I'm having fun the whole time. The only time it gets stressful is the business side. For most artists know, the business side is stressful. Applying for shows and reaching out to galleries, reaching out to venues. And I tend to have had some success, but I explain to anyone that's even new. I'm like for every, you know, show that I got into or every gallery that showed my work, there were 10 that passed on me or five that didn't respond or, you know, and me or five that didn't respond or, you know, and you, you can't, you can't take it too serious. You got to just keep painting and be happy and keep applying and, and things happen. Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Our whole. theme for this season has been letting go you could say letting go of not taking you know getting into competitions or things seriously in the sense that you know you can't take it personal in that respect but have there been moments in your creative journey where you've had to release perfectionism or let go of what you thought your art should be in order to grow i guess there's some time

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guess there's some time I try to stay professional at all times. There's been times where certain things haven't made sense to me, where I thought that I'd be a perfect fit for a show. But I really just try to be very easygoing and not get upset. And if someplace says no, I might ask again six months later. I try not to just... I mean, sure, initially, I'm not, you know, made of stuff. Initially, there's going to be disappointment. And I give myself like a half an hour. I'm like, okay, let this set in and you'll be disappointed. And then just move on and pay and try again. And I think when I first started showing my work, I reached out to other artists that I had felt were doing very well and were ahead of me. And I said, hey, can I take you for coffee or can we go get lunch? Or can I visit your studio and I'll bring you for coffee or can we go get lunch? Or can I visit your studio and I'll bring some donuts and we could talk? And I'd ask all these other artists about how they had found success in their career. And if I could try to like piggyback off of that and pick up some tips and pointers. And almost every single one of them said there was never like a moment that set their career off, but rather just a collection of small successes. It just snowballs and eventually, you know, it picks up. So I'm just trying to snowball.

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Sure. And I think it's about you have to love what you do so that even when the hard times happen, you're still willing to do it. You know, because there are, you know, there's times it's definitely not easy. You know, we're artists. We're not business people most of the time. So trying to do that aspect of it can get really challenging.

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And most definitely. Most definitely. So. I can't expect to be changing up what I'm doing completely. Yeah. At the moment. I mean, there's some galleries I work with that like my city scenes. So I can't burn that bridge completely. And when they want more work, I guess I will go back and make some city scenes. Or whatever it is that they're interested in. But some of the galleries I work with, I think already are more, they're also interested in my car paintings. So hopefully they'll grow with me.

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So hopefully

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Like the Scenes of Easton Show is coming up, the Connections Gallery. That's right. Trying to get some stuff together because I really, and of most of the, all of the galleries I work with, I really love. Of most of the, all of the galleries I work with, I really love. So I want to, I want to make them proud. I want to do stuff that they want to show. And I want to, make work that's going to sell because I want to see the gallery succeed just as much as I do because I feel like I like that partnership and I don't really want to sell work on my own.

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feel like

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don't really want to sell work on my own. I've never really been much of a salesman. I really just want to make the work and promote it, but then have somebody else handle selling it. I don't want to sell my own work. So I want to see gallery succeed. Sure. Absolutely.

00:30:30 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think that's important. And it's a balance, too, especially when it's work you used to create and now you're doing something new. But the gallery sells what was the older stuff. It's hard to find that balance I find sometimes, you know, because I don't always want to go back and paint the older stuff that I don't do anymore. Do you ever find that challenging?

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Yeah. At the moment, I just want to paint. Somebody just asked me if I would do a painting for them. for a gift. And it's a close friend of mine. And so I said, absolutely, I'll make the painting. And it was a city scene. But I felt that I struggled a little bit at first. But then I get back into my old ways. And I rolled with it. And I enjoyed it again. I started enjoying it again. Ultimately, I just love painting.

00:31:21 SPEAKER_01
Right now,

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I'm just kind of into this new mode. But if someone calls me and says, hey, I need you to paint this picture for permission. I'm going to do it. I'm going to paint because I just love painting. And I want to keep the lights on and I want to be able to buy more art supplies. And so I'm going to paint it. Yeah, I hear you. Buy more art supplies. And so I'm going to paint it. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.

00:31:47 SPEAKER_01
So your work has been shown in many respected venues from Princeton University to Cerulean Arts. How have those opportunities shaped your path?

00:31:59 SPEAKER_00
So I do this trick and I love this trick. I go on Google Maps, right? And I look up art galleries and up top all these little red dots. And sometimes some areas, obviously, there's going to be way less red dots than others. And so then I click on each red dot and I research each of the dots, each of the galleries. And then I move the cursor and then I search this area again. And I keep going up. and down the east coast and i've essentially just kind of mapped all of these galleries and you could find areas that like you didn't realize were like an art hub you know i wouldn't have known this that annapolis had quite a few galleries that i liked or i wouldn't have known about alexandria virginia and you know their art scene that's how i found bethlehem and then via bethlehem i found easton and so

00:32:39 SPEAKER_01
know i

00:32:51 SPEAKER_00
how i found bethlehem and then via bethlehem i found easton and so That was kind of like my initial trick, which is going on Google Maps and just searching and using those little red dots to help me. And then I just look to see, does this particular gallery look like my work fits? And there's also galleries that I say, okay, I'm not really ready for this gallery right now, but maybe I will be soon. Or maybe my work at the moment is not a fit for them, but I'll revisit this gallery later. And so I have this list, but I'll revisit this gallery later. And so I have this list. I mean, I visit a ton of galleries. And I do these road trips where I'll drive eight hours. And I'll follow this map, this course that I made for myself. And I'll plan out all of these galleries that I have to visit. And I tell my wife and kids where I'm going, I pack a lunch bag, put it in the car. I usually bring some paintings with me. Just something off. I mean, you really shouldn't walk in. I never walk into a gallery with paintings, but I usually have them in the car. And if I have a conversation with a gallerist, then I tell them, yeah, I've had a few shows here and there, and maybe now it's been a lot of shows. And they say, well, do you have any examples of your work? I could say, sure, I have digital examples, or I happen to have a few in the car if you'd like me to go get them. And when I first started, that's how I got shows. I remember... going to a gallery in Wilmington, Delaware, and getting a chance to meet a wonderful woman who was the gallery manager there. And she said, will you have any paintings? I said, absolutely. Let me go into my car. It was Hardcastle Gallery in Delaware. I said, let me go into my car and grab some paintings. Then she said, great, these are great. Let's put them in the next show. And it was one of these road trips where I just drive around and try to find galleries that would work for me.

00:34:54 SPEAKER_01
The person -to -person and in -person really does matter, I think.

00:35:00 SPEAKER_00
Oh, 100%. Cold emails to galleries have almost never worked for me. And that's a shame because I'm not getting in my car and driving to Oregon or, you know, Austin anytime. My car and driving to Oregon or, you know, Austin anytime. Right,

00:35:19 SPEAKER_01
right.

00:35:20 SPEAKER_00
But if my wife and I do go on vacation, sometimes I'll lean to it like, hey, do you want to go to Charleston? It looks beautiful. And she'll say, well, there are a lot of art galleries there. And I'll say, there's a lot of art galleries. So she knows, okay, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to go there. Great vacation. And there's art there. So it works. That's great.

00:35:44 SPEAKER_01
So I know you participated with the Philly Seeds Exposition. exhibition in 2024 what was your experience like with that any personal highlights from it the one this was at the chestnut hill gallery yeah oh it was great and as you know right chestnut hill has a really nice art scene it does yeah so i was very excited and again it was this new place that i hadn't really found that i'd been showing in philly but i had not known about chestnut hill and then

00:35:57 SPEAKER_00
one this was at the chestnut hill gallery yeah oh it was great and as you know right chestnut hill has a really nice art scene it does yeah so i was very excited and again it was this new place that i hadn't really found that i'd been showing in philly but i had not known about chestnut hill and then I pulled up in the Chestnut Hill, and it reminded me a little bit, when I first started showing, the first gallery I showed with was called Artist House in Old City. They would do these great first Fridays. At the time, I think there were like 25 galleries that would open their doors, and it just felt so good to be a part of that. And that kind of fell off. I think there's like three art galleries now in Old City. Most of them shuttered their doors, and now there's new condos that have opened. When I got to get to Chestnut Hill, it felt like I was back in Old City. Their first Friday, there was a couple of galleries up and down that main street. And they were varied in what kind of galleries up and down that main street. And they were varied in what kind of work they showed, but they were all quality galleries. And I felt like this was a really nice scene. The Philadelphia scene show was great at Borelli's and Joe and Declan, the two. Joe is the owner of the gallery and Declan's the gallery manager. They're both fantastic to work with. Having a show there with another group coming up in June. There's city scenes for me, but the show is called Low Light and it's all, I guess it revolves around, you know, darker scenes or in points of light. So I have some of my nighttime scenes. Oh, I'm so excited. And Joe is very open -minded to having the show. And it's a nice artsy area, right? You're showing right now at No Name Gallery?

00:37:52 SPEAKER_01
I am. I have a show currently there, No Name Gallery. They're featuring my Grit and Beauty series. And I'm partnered with Shiri Phillips, who's an artist out from Nebraska, who does abstract art as well. So it's a very colorful, very graphic, as far as a graffiti -like street feel to it. And it's a very fun show. I love it. And it's such a great area for artists. And it's very up and coming and they're building and trying to grow even more now. So it's very cool.

00:38:22 SPEAKER_00
And it's a great gallery there too. You know, I walked in and right away, I'm like, this is a fantastic gallery. So it's a beautiful area. I'm excited to be a part of it. Anytime anyone's willing to show my work, I'm honored. You know, I'm just very happy. Yes, me too. It's almost impossible for me to say no to someone that asks me to show. To someone that asks me to show. If you ask me, I'm like, oh my God, of course. Thank you for wanting to show my work. Yes, yes. Yeah.

00:38:59 SPEAKER_01
So what keeps you inspired right now?

00:39:02 SPEAKER_00
What keeps me motivated?

00:39:04 SPEAKER_01
Motivated, inspired. What keeps you going?

00:39:07 SPEAKER_00
keeps you going? Oh, just that's it. Just my love of painting. I mean, I have aspirations, but it's just my love of painting right now. I'm also getting always working on the next show. So I also have a show and I haven't announced it yet, but I have a show in July in Hoboken. Oh, OK. At this gallery called the Barsky Gallery, their annex. And I started, you know, I grew up in that area and this will be. The first time I'm really going back up home where I grew up and showing in the gallery since I've become a professional artist. And I'm excited to return to Hoboken. You know, I spent a lot of my youth there. But I'm not a procrastinator. I'm the opposite. Like, the show's in July, and I'm like, I have to have all the work done by the end of May.

00:40:03 SPEAKER_02
Mm -hmm.

00:40:04 SPEAKER_00
So I'm probably finishing up the last two paintings that are going to be for the show. So I'd like to get things done well in advance.

00:40:12 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you and me both.

00:40:13 SPEAKER_00
Yeah.

00:40:14 SPEAKER_01
It's better than panicking at the last minute.

00:40:17 SPEAKER_00
And so keeping me motivated is just loving painting. And I just, I love to paint. And I also love when things sell because then, you know, that's extra money to do things with my family. So love when things sell because then. You know, that's extra money to do things with my family or extra money to go. You know, we get to go on a vacation or we get to go put money away for college because I have, you know, my older son's getting ready. You know, he's looking at colleges. So I do like selling paintings. So they're not going to sell in my garage or my studio. I have to try to get them out there for the world to see.

00:40:53 SPEAKER_01
Yes. Yes. So what's something you've recently had to unlearn or let go of in your creative process? Oh, man.

00:41:04 SPEAKER_00
You know, I just, you're forgiving yourself. You know, like I said, I tried a whole bunch of different styles of paintings that didn't work. I tried using epoxy. And I was layering wood stain and trying to get the lines to float in layers of epoxy. And that was not successful for me. And then I tried this other, I tried to do like a pop art kind of feeling with my city scenes. And I was doing this very neat white outline around the buildings. And I just didn't like it. And I have to realize like, okay, this isn't working. let's move on to the next thing so just being willing to make mistakes and try new things because then you sometimes stumble onto something that you really enjoy and that was the first one or two car paintings i did i didn't even share because the first one or two i didn't the first two i didn't love but i learned from them and then the third one just clicked and and now and then the third one just clicked And now I'm really enjoying them. I'm having fun making them. And so I guess it's just being willing to take some chances, make some mistakes, and see where things fall and just keep rolling with it.

00:42:32 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's a great perspective. So what advice would you give to emerging artists trying to find their unique way of making?

00:42:39 SPEAKER_00
So immerse yourself into art. Go out and look at what working artists are doing. I mean, obviously you can look at historical artists as well, and there are definitely a bunch of historical artists that I love, but I like going out and seeing what's current. If you can go to openings and talk to the artist, that's even better. And then you find what their tools are, and then you don't want to take them all, but maybe you take one or two of their tools and you add them to your toolbox. And you collect all these different tricks and tools until you find what works best for you. And I would say that's what, so I could look at artwork like artists and their work could look nothing like mine. But I could find things in their work that I really appreciate and I will try to bring that back into my own work. And I think artists have been doing that since the beginning of time. And that's what I would say you should do. And try to treat your work professionally. Try to make sure it's presented well. I think that's very important. And then start getting your work out there. And make friends with artists.

00:43:50 SPEAKER_02
You know,

00:43:50 SPEAKER_00
know, you don't do it all on your own. Go for coffee with other artists. Or like I said, if you go to openings and you talk to artists and support each other. And I think that's the greatest thing. You talk to artists and support each other. And I think that's the greatest thing. I have so many friends that are artists now. And you start to realize the more you get into this career, it's not that big of an art world. No. At first, it seems like it's this enormous, you know, art world. And then you start to realize, well, it's really not that big. And, you know, I feel like Kevin Bacon sometimes. I can say, I've shown with this person or I've shown with this person. You know, you wind up showing with everybody eventually. Yeah.

00:44:33 SPEAKER_01
You end up seeing a lot of the same people. Which is a good thing because it builds a big community for yourself.

00:44:37 SPEAKER_00
is a good thing

00:44:41 SPEAKER_00
100%. Yeah. And a support system. We need that. We really do. And so I'm not very competitive. I like sharing. I like, you know, all boats rise together. And so I try to, you know, we'll help each other out. And that's what's great. It's a very loving community, I think. There's some doubt in the art world built in, but overall, you know, I think we're pretty, you know, likable community of people. I think so. Yeah.

00:45:14 SPEAKER_01
So, and finally, what does being an artist mean to you right now?

00:45:19 SPEAKER_00
It's just, it's that, it's meditation. I think it keeps us, it's healthy, it keeps you healthy. And having that time. To just not think about all of the other things going on in the world, not thinking about anything else and just getting into your painting. My neighbors, my poor neighbors, because my studio is out back at my house and I blast music and I'm just, I'm singing my house and I blast music and I'm just, I'm singing. I probably have a horrible singing voice, but I'm just, I'll be singing and painting and I'm just happy as can be. And so it's, I think. A lot of artists live long lives. I think it's almost like gardening or just this meditative state that you get into. And I think you just de -stress and it's just so good for you. If you're not too concerned with everything else, the business side of it, try to disconnect the art creation from the art business side and try to really, when you're painting, which should be the number one thing you're doing, enjoy that. and let be free. And then when it's time to do the business part, it's a little more strenuous and you should try to do it as quickly as possible and then get back to pain. Yes. Yes. I completely agree with you.

00:46:40 SPEAKER_01
I completely agree with you. Thank you, Sean, for coming on today. I really, really appreciate it. It was great to talk with you.

00:46:48 SPEAKER_00
Oh, this was wonderful, Kat. Thank you so much. It's an honor that you thought to have me on and I really appreciate it. And I look forward to, you know, showing with you even more. I'm sure we have a couple of shows coming up together and hopefully even more and more as time goes on.

00:47:04 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I look forward to it. Absolutely.

00:47:06 SPEAKER_00
Yeah. Well, thank you so much.

00:47:08 SPEAKER_01
You're welcome. Thank you.

00:47:12 SPEAKER_00
All right.

00:47:13 SPEAKER_01
Sean Carney reminds us that stillness can be just as powerful as motion, that there is beauty in pausing to look closer and taking the time to notice what reflects back to us. You can explore Sean's work online at his website, carnystudios .net, and Instagram at carnystudios. I'll drop his links in the show notes for you. Instagram at carnystudios. I'll drop his links in the show notes for you. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and share it with your fellow art lovers. And remember, every artist's journey is different, but one thing we all share? The courage to begin and the grace to let go. Until next time, stay curious, stay creative, and remember the artist is always in.