Navessa’s WU: Haunted Paintings
Date: 2025-10-31 00:03
(Navessa’s WU: Haunted Paintings)
[Fri Oct 31 2025]
Inside a Haunted Art Studio/span>The art studio occupies a high-ceilinged space with large north-facing
windows that flood the room with steady, diffused light. Paint-splattered
wooden floors bear decades of creative work, while industrial sinks line one
wall beneath shelves crowded with jars of brushes, palette knives, and
containers of turpentine that fill the air with their sharp scent. Easels
stand at various angles throughout the room, some holding half-finished
canvases that seem to shift subtly in peripheral vision. The walls display
student work in various stages of completion, though certain paintings appear
to have been turned to face the wall, their canvas backs marked with small
symbols in pencil. Storage cabinets along the eastern wall contain supplies
and drying racks, their metal doors occasionally swinging open on their own,
revealing glimpses of stored artwork. Track lighting supplements the natural
light, though several bulbs remain perpetually burned out despite frequent
replacement. A large work table occupies the center of the room, its surface
stained with years of spilled pigments that form patterns resembling old maps
or anatomical diagrams. The radiators beneath the windows tick irregularly,
and the smell of linseed oil mingles with something older and more organic,
like the scent of very old varnish or decomposing canvas./span>It is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Thornberry and Sidney/span>There’s a sharp sound as the feet of Liri’s chair hit the floor, back straight so she can rest her elbows on the table top, cupping her chin in her hands. She’s giving Navessa her attention, now.
Kaelyn seemingly satisfied she focused her energy on the front of the classroom and Navessa.
“I mean..” Owen replies to Liri, waving towards Kai and Kaelyn when they enter, but still somehow talking about the weather. “I should probably get one.. I don’t know if the rain is good for me, is it?” Owen asks whoever really, like he’s wanting someone to clarify that fact. “Just makes me went, and uncomfy.”
“Take my opinions as opinions, I’m a wolf, and we’re verging on the moon. I’m pulling at my roots,” Liri mumbles to Owen, trying to be subtle. It’s hard in this small of a group.
Kai gives a polite two-fingered salute to Owen with his free hand.
With a glance to her phone, Navessa nods to herself and carries the papers that are not ruined by rain over to the large work table to lay out within reach of people. “Welcome to my class on Haunted Paintings. I am Navessa Steel, a local sculptor and painter. I will have a gallery and studio space in the Ivory Quarter… uh, eventually. It’s been an undertaking to open.”
“On these papers are-” she stops as Liri’s chair hits the floor, blinks, and continues on, “is a copy of a painting called ‘The Hands Resist Him.'” And on the paper is a printout of: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/662aa41a0a1a656d5555ce89/e80afd83-a67a-4d2f-a487-379132728629/Hands3x4-5.png She continues: “If you are an art nerd, internet nerd, or your parents are… You may have heard of it. In the early 2000s, it showed up on eBay. Now, the human world sees it as just a strange painting that people… basically cause themselves problems. A psychological phenomenon.”
Kai hmms and leans in to look down on the paper, he glances at his phone and sends a brief response, “All our problems are in our head…” he nods sadly in agreement with Navessa.
Liri hides her phone within the fluff of her outfit, blinking as she looks at the printout, then she gives a nod. “Sounds vagguely familiar,” she says, words slow.
Kaelyn opens her mouth and shuts it, whatever comment she had on her tongue dying as Navessa spoke. Instead her hand found Kai’s as she listened. Looking at the painting she shivered, “It is a little creepy.” A quick glance to Kai at his comment and then back to Navessa.
Kai tilts his phone a bit toward Kaelyn and smirks a little, he shakes his head taps on it a couple of time to clear his messages, another text rolls in and he answers it, then finishes cleaning up his inbox, “I think it’s based looking.”
As Navessa begins the lesson, Owen settles into his seat, sitting forward just a bit. Once he realizes what’s on the printout, he blinks, and frowns – letting out a heavy sigh, but trying to hide that fact. Tucking his own phone away now, he’s focused on the class.
Kaelyn slips her phone out of her pocket, trying to be subtle as she typed away at it.
“And yet the artist himself later admitted the owner of the original gallery to display it and the original art critic to review it both died within a year,” Navessa says after a vague nod toward Kai. “The sellers on eBay reported that those who viewed the painting experienced nausea, fainting, feelings of dread — sound familiar? — and some would even see the doll’s expression move. Definitely a good bit beyond the classic ‘it feels like the eyes are following me’ of some portraits.” She doesn’t seem particularly bothered by the phone use. At least they’re talking! “Now, obviously, no one in the mundane world has quote-unquote proven if it is haunted or not. And the skeptics only give the usual speaking points. Psychological- it’s in your head, it’s fumes from the paint, whatever. What do you think, looking at the photo? The artist claimed it was inspired by a poem his wife wrote about the paths in life not taken in youth.”
Darrow tilts his head a little to the side and regards the image on the page, studying it thoughtfully as Navessa explains its story. “I like the hands reaching out from behind the glass,” he observes. “Like they’re trying to connect but something is keeping them from crossing that threshold.”
“It does feel much more that than say, other paths being offered, doesn’t it,” Navessa says to Darrow’s before gesturing to him. “I don’t think we’ve met. What’s your name?”
A nod from Owen at Darrow’s observation. “It’s odd,” he mentions casually, “It, uh, that was one of the ones I was going to bring to class, actually..” He murmurs softly, before trying to continue on, though stops when Navessa begins to address Darrow.
“Yeah it’s haunted, probably the artist did a human sacrifice to a demon for the ability to be this good of an artist and it’s the spirit of the sacrifice, out for revenge on anyone who looks upon its glory!” Kai ejaculates excitedly, a grin on his face as he looks from the picture to Kaelyn and finally to Navessa.
“Darrow Chandler-Wei,” Darrow introduces himself when Navessa asks for his name. “Freshman. Started a bit late this semester. Still catching up.” He smiles a little apologetically.
Liri definitely didn’t just leave.
Liri speaks up in her warm voice, saying, “He may have only intended to capture a poem, but it’s not unusual intentions should…” She sucks her teeth, picking words like a chess player, “Intentions don’t change that emotions draw in things, power, location, strength of obsession as the artist worked, lots of things, allegedly, cause spirits to cling onto a piece.” Her lips purse, bottom lip pouted as she thinks about something, adding, “My family’s dealt with that a lot.”
“Better this than the one from Ghostbusters,” Navessa says to Owen in a dry tone. “And your name?” Seems she knows the others! Particularly that Kai guy who she tunes out for a moment. “Obviously, without having the physical painting, we can’t confirm whether it’s haunted or not. The artist’s name is Bill Stoneham if you want to look him up. After the fame of this painting, he was commissioned to do a sequel. And he turned it into a series, with the final made just a handful of years ago. The others have a similar style, but they lack the same… power.” She nods to Liri as the young woman speaks up. “Correct. And if you were to look through his gallery, you can pick up on that. It’s almost like two different people creating art. There is the same skill, style behind them, yes, but many of them are… okay and then every so often there is one that hits something deeper, more primal. My theory is that he is a Sensitive and that spirits use him and his art. Of course, it’s just a theory. But it has been known to happen and is just one way that art can become haunted. By spirits actively seeking out the artist during the creation process.”
When it becomes obvious Navessa doesn’t listen to his thoughts, he tunes out of the class in turn, playing on his phone with one hand. Kai keeps it on vibrate and the sound down to minimize distractions to his fellows, at least.
Kaelyn settles her phone on her lap, running her fingers over the painting, “Would have to be a lot of people if you look at the hands.” She adds in softly, “Look that the hands here closely. Some are old and some are younger, I think. One of them even seems a bit smaller, like a child’s.” A tap to the photo and she sighs, “If the man regretted things that he had lost in the past or an action he took, would it not make this one important.” She bobbed her head, “Be the key why its that one that is haunted?”
“Owen,” Owen informs Navessa when she asks, after she finishes the point her point. “It feels..” a pause as he considers the words, trying to find the proper ones. “Like somehow the artist had a sort of terrible experience as a kid? Maybe almost being abducted, or kidnapped?” A hand runs across the printout, stopping on one of the hands, “But not fully. The glass behind the window, maybe saving him?”
“Hands often represent the piece of yourself you’re willing to show to the world, in the same way masks do,” Liri pipes up to add, but seems like art history isn’t her subject. She’s been resisting, but then her phone’s out.
“Possibly,” Navessa says to Kaelyn with a nod. “None of them are offering anything, are they? Very few seem to even be in a pose to offer. Some beckoning, perhaps. Others trying to reach out, get in, yes. What about the doll? The artist, as far as I am aware, never had anything to say about her.” She moves to another work table and hauls herself up to sit on the edge of it. “They do,” she adds to Liri with a nod. “And potentially, Owen. That would also be something he may not wish to speak of to the public, I would imagine. You said you had considered bringing this painting in as an example? Did you decide on one to bring?”
“The different ages and sizes of the hands could represent the different paths and choices taken throughout life, from young to old age,” Darrow muses when Kaelyn mentions them in greater detail, jumping off from that thought. “Actually, he said that the doll is an imagined companion or guide for the boy, I think.” He pulls out his phone then for a second to pull up the artist’s site. “The glass door, that thin veil between waking and dreaming” he quotes, “The girl/doll is the imagined companion, or guide through this realm.”
Darrow adds, “It’s at the bottom of the Haunted page on the stonehamstudios.com site. The poem is also there on the right.”
“Ah, did he? Then he updated from the last time I read interviews,” Navessa says with a quiet laugh to Darrow. “Good catch. The last time I had read, he had very little information on his site. He was still distancing himself from the haunting claims.”
Liri looks up from her phone as Darrow speaks, amber gaze resting on him as he nears finishing his point, then it’s back on the printout, as though trying to view it in a different sense. “huhm,” she murmurs.
Kaelyn hums letting her hand fall from Kai’s she traces over the doll with a curious sort of interest. “But, then what is in her hand?” She tilts her head looking towards the glass and the doll.
Liri stifles a giggle at something on her phone, typing with her index, a rapid swipe. Seems her attention span’s run out for the moment.
“I’ll do you one better,” Navessa says to Kaelyn, “if the hands are trying to get in and that is the moon in the background… why is the boy standing outside? That’s grass in the foreground.”
“Oh, yeah,” Owen tells Navessa. “I was thinking of this one,” he explains, “And another one. I think it’s also a little famous though, but it’s Death and the Child?”
Kai taps a couple of times at his phone, gazing down boredly at his screen while he types away.
Kaelyn smiles at her phone and taps the moon. “Could it be a reflection or… maybe we’re looking at it wrong. They are not trying to get out but in. All those possibilities trapped within a house of his own design and the only way through is with help. Which could could back to something bad happening in the past.
Kaelyn glances from one side of her to the other as if considering.
Darrow scans through his phone, but he seems to be looking at the artist’s site and wikipedia. There’s a glance at the others briefly, but then he’s settling back, setting the phone down and just sort of studying the painting and listening to Navessa and the others discuss it. “There’s always more to art than the artist’s intent, anyway. There’s what the artist was thinking when they created the work, but then there’s what the viewer finds in it, the connection that they make with it that is unique to them and their experience and interpretation. So regardless of what he meant, you could take away something different. I don’t think there’s a wrong way to look at it, just a different angle to look at it from, maybe.”
“And always,” Navessa says to both Kaelyn and Darrow, nodding to each, “it circles back to intent. Which is where art and magic intersect the most. And is how, really, art most often ends up haunted. Intent. Most often unknowingly.” She pulls out her own phone to pull up Owen’s mention. “Munch’s piece, I take it? Tell us why you chose Death and the Child.” She does look to Liri and Kai, but doesn’t appear too concerned at the moment.
“Half of art is the viewer, not what’s presented,” Liri says, in agreement with Darrow, but she’s still looking at her phone.
Kai doesn’t seem to notice Navessa’s glance, he’s thoroughly checked out and playing some game on his phone, by the look of the rhythmic tapping he’s doing with his thumb, but still, it’s at least muted.
Kaelyn brings up the new photo with a curious up, hum. “It doesn’t seem as creepy as the first. Not from the onset. Maybe because its something more familiar?”
Tilting her head a bit to listen to something, Navessa notes: “After we discuss Owen’s piece, I’ll let you all go for anyone who needs to go to that raid.” Or get on to the Halloween drinking, perhaps.
Owen blinks at Navessa, finally coming back to reality. It seemed like he was lost in his own world, realizing that Navessa has mentioned something to him. “Well,” he begins, carefully. “I, uh,” laying his hand flat. “I thought the name was a bit provocative, at first,” is the start of his explanation. “I didn’t really get… um, too in-depth into why I chose it. I was reading up on it a little bit too, people saying they heard the bed sheets rustling of the sick mother, or, the Child’s eyes watching them.”
Kaelyn nods, fingers zooming on on the child’s face and showing it to Kai, bumping into his shoulder in a small attempt to bring him back even just a little.
Kai glances from his phone to look at the zoomed in expression and nods at Kaelyn disinterestedly, his gaze soon returns to his phone’s screen.
“One thing that’s interesting about this piece,” Navessa says after Owen gives his reasoning, “is how many versions of it Munch made. I find the etching the most haunting, personally. To me, the girl looks less like she’s grieving and more like she’s holding a face to her own that is not her own.” She gives a brief shrug. “Do you think it’s haunted, Owen? Or is it that it’s such a raw depiction of grief that people find themselves channeling their own?”
“Is there a difference between the two in a meaningful way?” Liri mumbles aloud, responding to Navessa’s question that was not at all directed at her.
Kai stands up and gives Kaelyn’s shoulder a pat, “Going to go warm up the car,” he tells her and wanders out of the room, shouldering his backpack.
“Well, one is internal to them and one is external,” Navessa says to Liri.
Considering for a brief moment, Owen looks towards Navessa, and then shrugs a bit. “I think grief is haunting,” is his admission. “So, I guess in a way, it’s haunted?” A little shrug follows, and he’s glancing towards Liri, sort of nodding towards in in agreement with her. “I can’t say if it’s actually haunted, I’d sort of need to see the thing up close, and personal.. but I think, in a weird way, it’s haunted.”
“Sometimes, emotions get externalized, and their manifestations are…” Liri mumbles, letting the point drip into pithy silence.
“I almost wanted to say that the etching looks like a first draft before he got the proportions of the face right, but according to this, the etching is actually newer, which makes it strange that her face suddenly doesn’t seem to fit her head, where it does in the other versions,” Darrow observes as he studies the paintings and the etchings separately and then lined up in chronological order. “I’m more curious about what it is that she’s hearing, that she’s covering her ears like that. Perhaps a last breath? Perhaps in the earlier versions, the grief of the adults around her.”
Kaelyn turns he head to watch as he leaves and then glances over to Liri, letting out a small sigh. She nod to Navessa, “The manifestations are mean little things that barb at people or make them feel just as terrible as they source.”
Now it’s the teacher’s turn to send a text! Oh no! “We could take a field trip to the Munch Museum one day. Plenty of mirror gates in the city. Perhaps for a future class.” Navessa offers this to Owen. “And yes, that’s true. Many hauntings are considered recordings. Emotions so powerful they leave, essentially, a stain. Not a ghost or spirit, but the power of the emotion itself. Some human scientists even acknowledge these as a real, recordable thing.” She spreads her hands in a shrug. “As for the earlier versions,” Navessa says to Darrow, “Perhaps. But also, perhaps it is the other way around. The adults are the family years later. The girl is Munch’s older sister, at the time of their mother’s death. The adults in the background is the family still suffering that grief late in life.”
“Field trip would be incredible,” Owen enthuses suddenly, almost interrupting Navessa, before shrinking down into his seat, using his jacket to hide the lower half of his face for a moment.
“I’d love a field trip at some point,” Liri says, a sleepy smile crossing her face.
Darrow nods to Navessa and studies the different versions of the paintings again, thoughtfully. “I’d love to go on a field trip and see them in person.”
Kaelyn chuckles at the sudden excitement across the table, “Could be interesting.” She looks at the image on her phone, “Would be curious about the yellow ‘mist’ near the ground.” But her attention is drawn away to the door and then back to Navessa.
“Then I will look into arranging a field trip,” Navessa says with another glance to her phone. No text, not even unlocking it. Just checking the time. “If you have any other museums you might want to check out, feel free to text me. My number is in the faculty posting near the eastern gate. I’ll let you all go now as I also should get ready for the raid.” She pushes away from the table, ready to leave the other printouts for anyone passing by the room to check out if they want. Or to haunt the room, maybe! Perhaps both. “Glad everyone came out. I don’t have my next class on the schedule yet, but also feel free to reach out if you have any requests on topics you’d like to see covered.”
“I’m not sure if that’s mist or Munch’s way of depicting light and shadow,” Navessa admits honestly to Kaelyn. “Maybe we’ll examine it closer in person at some point.”
“Louvre,” Owen murmurs softly under his breath. But, once that class is dismissed, he’s standing up, starting to slowly tuck his chair in, and gather up any belongings he might have. Not quite leaving fully yet though. Lingering around just in case.
Liri sets a canvas painting down, leaving it on the table, then pushes back from it. “That one may or may not be cursed, probably not yet,” before she’s padding out.
Liri pauses, at the door, to say to Darrow, “Add me on MyHaven?” then she’s out for real, this time.
Kaelyn nods, “I didn’t think of that.” She smiles standing from her seat, giving a stretch. Looking to the departing woman she opens her mouth to speak and that one was gone. With that she bobs her head to Navessa, “Thank you for the class.”
There is a glance to the painting that has set down. “Well. Leave it here over the next forty-eight hours and it may be,” Navessa murmurs to herself before she gathers up her sketchbook and turns toward the door herself. She’s got places to be and it’s raining, so the roads will surely be a mess! “Absolutely, thanks for coming out,” she tells Kaelyn over her shoulder.
Kaelyn smiles.