The Artist's Blog

I have always considered myself as a gatherer, not a hunter. Except for that one time I wanted an abalone shell. I was very young, playing at the beach in Corona Del Mar on an overcast summer’s day.

As the tide went out, I saw a lone abalone clinging to the rocks of the jetty. I wanted That Abalone. I knew it to be the most beautiful of shells. I had only found tiny ones washed up on the beach, and this… this one would be the crown jewel of my little shell collection. I never took a living creature from the sea to acquire a shell, but how could I pass up this opportunity? I was determined. For hours I worked to loosen it, braving the rising tides, the breaking waves, and the poor thing clung tenatiously. Until at last… I levered it somehow, it released and I had it. My very own Abalone.

My treasure! I got it home and then was faced with: what to do with the creature inside? How to extricate the fleshy gastropod from its cozy home? Obviously, it did not want to leave. I was at a loss as to what to do and felt sorrow and regret at having taken it. Exasperated, I left it in a plastic bag in the corner of the garage. Until…. it began to stink. The critter died, and now the entire garage was filled with its sulfurous death smell. My mother chastised me for taking it from its snug rock home on the jetty and leaving it to die in a suburban garage in Anaheim. What a waste. I would not do that again. We decided to bury it… and perhaps, with time the creature would decay in the soil and leave behind its beautiful shell. 

Abalone can be pink, black, red, green and white. All have exquisite nacreous layers lining the insides of the the shell with their amazing iridescence.  Cultures worldwide revere this mollusk, not just for the beauty of its shell, but for the tasty quality of its fleshy foot. 

"Abalone 1"   6" x 6"  Oil on Panel  Available at Lahaina Gallery.

Over the years I have found some beautiful abalone shells and have been fortunate enough to partake in some delicious fresh caught abalone meals. Once abundant in California they are now quite rare, due to overfishing and changes to their underwater environments. 

After my mother’s death, I found this abalone shell in her garden. I do not know if it was The One, that one I brought to my home for its untimely death. The shell is with me now. With profound gratitude to that creature, it has inspired this painting...

"Abalone Shell"  18" x 18"   Oil on Panel.  

View Caroline's entire new shell collection in her Cabinet of Curiosities. This collection, along with other recent paintings, are available at Caroline's Laguna Beach gallery Atelier del Corvo.