The Tough Paint Job – Naming the Baby

My exhibition in Bear River opens in 6 days and I’m finishing up edges of paintings and varnishing and putting the wiring on the backs of the canvases. (Thank you Larry for that part.)

This part is fairly tedious compared to painting and I have to hold myself back from starting anything new.

And now, in my opinion, I am faced with the toughest job – finding titles for the paintings.

Sometimes a title will pop into my head while I’m painting. Other times its dependant upon my mood of the moment. I spend ages pouring through old poetry books and the Thesaurus looking for the right words. And when it comes, it’s a satisfying relief!

Sometimes a title will foretell its destination. Years ago I painted a huge floral that was a happy one with lots of warm rose colours. I called it ‘Through Rose Coloured Glasses I See the World”, because I absolutely do when I paint. Or at least,  I am drawn to paint what makes me feel happiness. That painting went to the Teichert Gallery in Halifax. A year after it was purchased, a friend told me she saw one of my paintings in her optometrist’s office in Halifax. The title was  ‘Through Rose Coloured Glasses I See the World”! I was happy to learn of the painting’s destination and of course the title was very appropriate!

Besides coming up with 20+ titles, I have a few more ‘to-dos’ like:

  • baking goodies for the opening and buying refreshments
  • hanging the show
  • cutting more forsythia for display
  • creating labels for the work
  • artist statement
  • pricing work
  • posting announcement on social media
  • decide what to work on in the gallery over the 8 afternoons I’ll be there after the opening

It’s both stressful, and exhilarating. I can’t wait to see them all hanging and can’t wait to share them with my friends and neighbours. Here is a preview of most of the (untitled as-of-yet) paintings.

If you have any title ideas, feel free to share them below! 😉

10 thoughts on “The Tough Paint Job – Naming the Baby

  1. I will be traveling, and am quite disappointed that I won’t be able to visit your show. Your paintings are beautiful, and I have really enjoyed reading about the process of preparing for an exhibit. Congrats on this achievement…I know the exhibit will be beautiful!

  2. Beautiful work, Flora ~ I don’t envy you the task of coming up with THAT many titles! I looked through your preview and the only thing that popped into my head was that maybe the one with the water and blueness could be something about “Tranquility in Blue”?! ….but, that’s just me! Inviting fresh eyes to throw out a few ideas is a great way to get help! I wish you all the best with your show prep – sounds exhausting!

    1. Hilda, hi. The work is up and I have to say, it looks wonderful. I love your title and I’m going to save it for a future work. One of my favorite American painters, Bob Burridge, names his paintings and then paints them. Interesting how each artist works, including how to name the baby. Our son waited 7 days until we decided on his name so I suppose this isn’t a new thing for me. ;).

      1. I’m so pleased you’ve decided to use that name in the future…that’s the weird thing about naming stuff, sometimes it just comes to us out of the blue and other times it’s SO HARD! I am an English Major, originally, so, I do tend to find myself pulling phrases and words from various pieces of literature, poems, etc, but in this case I’m pretty sure that title is something that sprang from the song title “Rhapsody in Blue” 🙂 I wish you all the best with your show!!

  3. Missed this. If I post them on my blog I name them as I go. But you are so prolific. I’m sure the perfect names came to you, for your absolutely beautiful work.

    XOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

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