Titles

Interplay
by Jo Reimer
7.5 x 7.5"
Collage on paper

We're home from a visit in Texas with old friends and while I did manage to draw every day I have done little since returning home to good weather and large weeds. Now I'm back to my rather loose attempt to make time every day for art, even if it's something small such as the above collage or smaller greeting card sized pieces or a drawing in my sketchbook. I'm making no excuses. I like working small and finishing fast.

Collage suits me. I've done this sort of work for so long now that it feels like coming home when I sit down to my table and sort through bits of color and pattern, looking for just the right pieces of painted papers to puzzle together.

But I do have a painting that's percolating in my mind. It might be called 10 Days in Texas. Or maybe not. It might turn out to be something un-nameable.  When that happens I go through my lists of names and titles, or even consult the dictionary until I find a word that fits.

Some people are so good with titles. One such artist and wordsmith, the printmaker Anne Moore who uses titles like Approaching Stillness, Driving Force, and Interplay. I'd love to get into her head to see how she comes up with such appropriate ones. Does the work come first or does the work follow the title?

How do YOU come up with your good titles? I'm searching for a better way.

WALKING TO WORK

I overheard someone say “walking to work” recently and my mind did one of those flips that brings an AHA moment. My studio is in my home, in the center of my home in a big loft area that overlooks the living room, foyer, kitchen, and dining room and feels very un-business-like because of the location. Artists who rent space away from home can enter the studio and leave home matters at the door, but of course that has its own set of problems. My situation is right for me at this point in my life but it’s so easy to lose focus on art-making and waste time when the home work is right there in my visual field.

My AHA is all about perception. I can start walking to work and get my daily miles in at the same time. Here’s the thing… get up, shower, breakfast, and then walk to work… put on my jacket and walk my 2 miles, ending up at my studio where I take off my coat, and settle in to work. At noon I give myself permission to check email, have lunch, and even read, but in an hour it’s back to work. At the end of the day, around 4, I can walk home, taking the shortcut which is only 1 mile. I know it’s a game I play with myself but I’m going to try this for the next month and see what happens. I’ll get in 3 miles of walking every day and establish a new summer schedule. Of course I’ll have to fit in a bit of gardening time, perhaps before work. And I can’t answer personal phone calls at work. I start this new job Tuesday... and I hope it pays off.

We were at the coast last week and this one small watercolor sketch is the only one I made all week.

PATTERN

As I walked the coastline and prowled around town I was thinking about pattern, both regular and irregular: foot patterns in the sand that tell their own story (seagulls, cars, people); wave patterns in the sand that create a mini history of tidal action; patterns of trees and grasses in the forest and dunes. There’s so much to see when one takes the time to look carefully at this world of ours.

Self Portrait with Giraffes