A common question we as artists get is, “how did you come up with the title for that painting?” Sometimes it’s obvious, particularly when it’s a painting of a tangible object, such as “Still Life with Fruit”. But with abstract, coming up with a name can be a bit more challenging. It’s truly harder sometimes to decide on a name than it was to paint it!
Occasionally I will find a descriptive word, such as Intertwine. As I’m learning Italian and French, I will sometimes swap out the English word for one that to me sounds more pleasing, such as the beautiful Italian word INTRECCIO, which translates back to intertwine.
In an earlier blog post I wrote about how travel informs and influences my work. It also has lent itself to helping me come up with some names. Oftentimes the shapes or color schemes remind me of a place. Some examples of this are my paintings Rivedoux and Rivedoux II, which contain shapes that remind me of all the rocks and shells scattered on Rivedoux-Plage, a beach on Île-de-Ré, an island I’ve visited off the Atlantic coast of France. Or Fortezza, which reminded me so much of the fortified Castel Nuovo in Naples, Italy.
On these occasions where I can link my creation to a place that inspired it, I like to reference that town, street, business, etc that I have traveled to that consciously or subconsciously turned up in my work. It’s a way of taking a special memory with me and putting it back out to the world with the gratitude I feel for having experienced that place.