Shell Games: February 2012

Shell Games

This blog is about the creative process that I engage in while painting. My goal is to clarify my thinking, explore some philosophic questions and get feedback (be gentle!) on my work. I may pose some specific questions from time to time, for example: “Do you think the background would look better in blue or green?” or “I’ve been adding and deleting details for three weeks, is it time to stop?”

The title of the blog, “Shell Games” is the name of a series of large scale oil paintings that I’ve been doing (you guessed it!) of sea shells. I’ve been motivated to explore a range of meanings within meanings, metaphors, and how people view the world and reality or non-reality issues that come up. The paintings are meant to be DEEP, not just cute or pretty, with varying levels of success. You can choose to interpret them as purely decorative, but I’m hoping they have more internal essence than that.

The name “Shell Games” is a double entendre. It comes from old time carnival illusionists and hawkers who would hide a pebble under a shell (or cup, or hat or whatever) and then move the shells around. At the outset, the viewer would lay bets on whether he could follow the action well enough to say where the pebble was when the illusionist was finished. Sometimes, a sly carnie would, through sleight of hand, remove the pebble altogether, thereby cheating the watcher out of any chance of recouping his bets.

In terms of painting, it’s about how you follow the action, what is seen or not seen, what is inside, what is outside, what the distractions are, where you are going or not going. With shells you’ve got that inside, outside and relationship to context that is so interesting. And it has to be playful in some way, too – hence the “game” part of “Shell Games”. It’s not clear if I can get to “edgy”, but edgy would an advancement for me.

Life is a carnival, the Persian poet Rumi would say a Tavern, but the drinking metaphor is too dry for me. I like carnival better. We enter by a gate, there are all kinds of amusements and ways to lose your way or your money, and at some point it is time to go home.

If you would like to see more of my work please visit my website at VictoriaHaskell.com.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Greetings!
My demonic children have insisted that my loyal fans need to see more of a blow-by-blow of my painting process. I have an updated image of the painting I am currently focusing on and some additional notes. I shall try to remember to do a step-by-step photo shoot the next time I paint. In the meantime, note that most of the shells are now in a semi-finished state - yeah team! (A team of one is still a team in my book). There is one really dorky shell, bottom center, that needs re-painting badly - mishandled striations, live and learn, I say. The interiors of the shells have good depth, but need to be more than shades of gray. They need the pearly-escent luminosity of . . .pearls (!), gosh, because . . .these are. . . yeah. . .oysters! , and because the inside of a shell, even in shadow is not gray at all, but shades of shades of many colors. I also added some background, that needs more colors worked into it, but the values and the basic hues are working nicely. I have been told by a critic (read family member) that some of the blues are too bright. Realists . . .go home and leave me alone! However, I will take all constructive criticism and consider it. The brighter blues make for more design interest, but are a tad distracting and fake looking in places, so they may get adjusted some. On the bright side, my uber-critical family members did stop and gasp audibly when they were allowed a peak at it and said it was certainly striking. So I'm pleased. In case you haven't noticed, this is a big picture! It is 36" x 52". Just right for a bank lobby on Cape Cod or a really swank beach house with a modern decor and high ceilings. Just a little thought, if you know of one. We'll talk.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Greetings to all,
I have been hard at work again. This time I've dug into a painting I started a while ago and let sit for months, not moving. I find I get discouraged with a work and have to give it a break. Or I feel overwhelmed sometimes, especially with larger pieces. This time I returned to this picture and started again and I think the parts are finally beginning to fall together. This has multiple shells in it, so I've been focusing on one shell at a time and trying to bring each one to a more final state. Originally, I had them blocked in so that the general hue and value relationships were there. That's when I clammed up (what a pun!). The blocking in stage always looks so dreadful, I lose heart. Then I get encouraged by something somewhere and start in again.

So here it is in its original blocked in state. (The room is sideways, the picture is not):

Here is the next state, where I started "finishing" some of the shells:

And again, today's improvements! Not finished, but more shells have been worked on.

The shells are beginning to pop and its nearer to my original vision. There's supposed to be dynamic that revolves around movement and edges and relationships: how things jostle together, separate, touch almost. Like people.