Monday, October 15, 2007

On Choosing Titles for Art

I have not given this acrylic painting a name. That fact made me realize choosing titles for my artwork is not one of my strong suits. I tend to be obvious: "Crow," "Peacock," "Girl with Braids." Thank goodness the girl wore braids...

My artist-friends are so clever. Look at Nancy's titles: "Hot and Humid," "Converging Thoughts," and "Secret Places." Geez! I wish I could think of original, interesting titles. Perhaps a thesaurus would be helpful.

About the art. I've wanted to paint on a gesso panel for a long time, and I really enjoyed the process! No bumpy canvas to deal with. The paint glided on like butter. Layers resisted new layers if I wanted them to. They obeyed. It was magical, so different from printmaking, where you can't completely control your end product and each print pulled from the same plate has its own personality.

But I'm feeling nervous again, too many interests, not enough time. Besides working on gessoed panels, I've been craving my pastels lately. And today I'm starting a new project with linocuts. Looks like it's time to prioritize.


1 comment:

dinahmow said...

I'm in much the same boat, but even worse than titles are the artist's statements!