Naming my etchings and drawings can be a lengthy process, often a name eludes me until the piece is completely finished. A while ago I read Tina Mammoser's Blog (click on the link to go to the post)about naming artwork and found really sensible ideas, some of which I'd already used myself such as the name of the place which inspired the piece, and other ideas such as sketchbook notes.
For the past year I've really enjoyed working on little 10x10cm etchings exploring technique and composition, the trouble is many of them were of different views of the same place. Naming was starting to get too contrived until this one:
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| July 7th |
A date gives an idea of the weather, the temperature, the season. A date can link to people in all sorts of emotional ways, it could be a memorable date. When I sketch outdoors I write the date on the page, so for me these are the dates of the inspiration drawings. When I look at the date and the image I get a full mental and emotional picture of the day.
On July 7th last year, a hot day, I sat under the shade of a tree and while I drew my dog rolled around on the path and then joined me in the coolness of the long grass and quietly watched me. A peaceful and tranquil morning.
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| Aug 25th and Apr 6th |
These two were then named for similar reasons
The link to the sketchbook and the process of drawing is a satisfying aspect of this naming strategy.
Thank you to Tina Mammoser for encouraging more thoughtful naming.
1 comment:
Very useful thoughts here on naming - thank you. I will look at Tina Mammoser's blog when time allows. Naming is always a problem - for me, often right up to the last minute. Then usually the finished piece seems to name itself.
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