I think I have always been an artist. I used to sit and sketch and draw for hours as a child, completely absorbed. When at my grandmother’s house during summer vacations, I would pore through my uncle’s art books and just stare at the pictures, mesmerized, trying to absorb each line and nuance, entranced. Much has intervened and occurred in the years between those early beginnings and today. I have explored a variety of art mediums (watercolor, oil, pastel, and woodblock prints), careers (I have a BFA in fine art as well as an MA in clinical mental health counseling), and also other crafts and interests (writing, fiber arts, and quilting) feeding on them, learning things from them, but always returning to my first love, the art of drawing and painting pictures.

As for my style and working methods, you may notice from the content that I am a realist of sorts. I envision and create things from images I have seen and combine that content with ideas and impulses that come from . . . everywhere. I work in series, especially with watercolor, which can be a “quick” medium. It allows for a playful, spontaneous use of washes of color that tend to have a life of their own. My large scale oil paintings of shells are created over much longer periods of time and have allowed me to connect with deep memories of my childhood and family history on Cape Cod, potent themes that I have tried to make universal and monumental in some way. My woodblock prints also connect with the coastline, drawing on countless family vacations along the coast of Maine and Cape Cod. The medium requires a sensitivity to patterns in black and white and an economy of means. I try to avoid too much clutter in the details and gradations in hue. My pen and ink sketches that I scan, print out, and overpaint with watercolors are a unique combination of mediums. They allow me to express variations with an economy of means and offer a product to the public that is more modestly priced.

I hope you have enjoyed the art you see here. I have a selection of art and paintings on my Etsy site at PametValleyStudios. I also have Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram accounts all found under my name, Vicky Haskell. If you have questions you can contact me directly at VickyHaskell@gmail.com