Naming artworks

Tree and Shadow

This painting needs a name. Will you help name it, please?

Titles....
Perhaps my way of finding titles will help you. I keep a dedicated journal on my desk that's just for titles and quotations. Whenever I find a title I like, into the book it goes. I find titles everywhere, just not when I'm in the midst of painting. So where do I find titles?

• Gallery shows. 
• Plant catalogs. (This is where I found the title, Red Hot Mama.)
• Song titles and musical terms.
• Thesaurus and the dictionary.
• Book or chapter titles.
• Phrases taken from my Bible or other books.
• Online galleries and websites.
• Note the titles other artists use for their works. Titles aren't protected by copyright and this is one place I "steal like an artist". I've yet to use a title that I don't change somehow but I know the day will come and I don't call that dishonest, and I hereby give you permission to copy my titles.

How do you title your own work?

Shadow photos....
Photos of my shadow are my version of selfies and lately I've been incorporating the shadow photos in my collages, sometimes directly by gluing the photo into the composition or like this one, printed onto a paper that I intend to use in the collage.

With the proper printer setting one can print on just about anything that will feed through the printer. I've printed text onto photographs, photographs onto painted paper, and in this case I printed a photo onto a magazine page that I had manipulated with solvent. Try it yourself.

I've learned....

• Inkjet printers don't work well for this technique. Use a laser printer or toner copier, set to black/white. Printing in color should work if you have a color laser printer. I haven't tried it since I don't have one.
• Lessen the contrast so that the black of the ink doesn't obscure the paper. Or...
• If you want a silhouette with strong black, then increase the black in your camera software.
• Experiment to see what you can do.

It's all about process....
Of course much of this would be easier done digitally in your computer program, i.e. Photoshop, but I am a tactile person and I have to have my hands on the paper, the scissors, and get my fingers covered with glue. Otherwise I don't feel like I've made art. The more of me I can get into the work the better I like the process.

Dreamtime Garden

Dreamtime Garden by Jo Reimer

Collage Painting. 11 x 14 on cradled panel.

Though I haven't been posting much recently I have been working steadily on a variety of works, mostly collages that I've created using papers I've painted for that purpose. 

I've been thinking a lot about why I find it most comfortable to work this way and have concluded that it has to do with my background in textiles. 

• I am adapt at cutting fabric and piecing it together to make garments, home decor, and quilts. 
• I have a strong background in hand and machine embroidery, designing the work and stitching in fine detail. 
• I've done lots of applique which is defined as stitching small pieces of fabric to larger pieces. 
• I'm comfortable with moving fabric and paper around, creating pleasing arrangements that can be adjusted before adhering them in place permanently. 
• It's easy for me to compose with bits and pieces of colored papers but not so easy to arrive at a pleasing painting using only paint and a brush, and at my stage in life I don't want to spend the time and focus that's necessary to develop another skill. 

However, I do love the process of painting, of applying paint to paper with all sorts of applicators such as brush, stick, sponge, cloth, spray, dripping, dyeing and so on. So I spend time now and then painting papers to give it surface texture and pattern and then use the accumulation of papers to make my collage paintings.  This works for me.

How about you? How did you get to where you are? How did your interests form? I'd love to hear.

 

Cliff Face at Cannon Beach, Oregon

One recent day at the beach I did a quick sketch of the cliff at the north end of the beach at Cannon Beach and back in my studio I printed the the drawing four-up on heavy paper. Being a woman who like to keep busy, even in front of the TV I took out the drawing and some watercolor pencils and started fiddling with colorways, thinking about doing the piece as an abstracted design to be done as a watercolor. The pencils don't usually appeal to me, though I know that lots of people use them, especially for quick sketches. I prefer the crayons.

Here's the original drawing and my first attempts at adding color. The top two were done with the watercolor pencils as I sat watching TV with half my mind and playing with the other half. I did the bottom ones just now with watercolor paint and water.

Running on Empty

There's nothing like enjoying a few days away to gain some perspective on life and how one lives it. Over the last two weeks my husband and I spent the best part of 10 days at the Oregon coast, doing practically nothing. Oh I had plenty to work with, took so many art supplies that I was informed that I'd be rationed the next time we leave home, but I didn't use much of what I had. I managed to sketch quite a bit but nothing memorable was created. I got away from home and turned into a bit of a slug, and now, looking back, I realize that I wasted a good part of my life with nothing to show for it. I don't like that. All my life I've been She Who Makes Things but something has happened lately that I don't like... I'm not producing much. Believe me, that's going to change. And as I write this I realize that perhaps this was a time of rest that I needed, a time to re-charge, a time to shake myself up and start again. Do you ever feel like that? Do you run out of gas, finding yourself running on empty? I'm sure it's a common condition for all us creative types.

Somewhere in that time I did another of my Sermon Notes, one about Romans 2 where Paul writes about being judgmental. The scan isn't the best, nor is the work (see how self judgmental I can be!), but it'll have to do. I work on a 9" X 12" block of 140# watercolor paper and my scanner bed is 8 1/2 by 11 so it cropped off the left side.


It occured to me that you might be interested in my process for creating these pieces and let me say first that they are difficult and take a long time and hours of thought and prayer, but they are the most personally rewarding work I've ever done. A friend commented on how nice it is for me that I've found a niche... yes, a niche, and also a calling, a focus, and even an obsession of sorts. I'm rather scatterbrained about my work, wanting to try every technique, to work in many ways and themes, and most of my life I've sought a focus in my work, something to say and a way to say it, without ever finding what it is that I'm to do that is mine alone. With these Notes I've finally been shown the way I'm to work, at least for now. So I'll keep with it until, well until it's clear that I'm done.

PROCESS

So here's how I approach doing a piece... this is what I will be doing this morning as soon as I publish this post. The first thing I do is pray... mostly it's asking for God's help as I work.

1. gather my handwritten notes from the sermon/sermons. (I'll insert a scan at the end of this post.)
2. read the chapter in the Bible and read my notes
3. do a mind map about all elements... design, composition, color, materials, drawings, techniques, text
4. get out collage papers and play with them as I
5. listen to the sermon on my iPod, downloaded from iTunes.
6. determine which scripture to use, choose a main statement, choose supportive statements.
7. type out all text on the computer.
8. print some of text on Thai Kozo paper and spray with a fixative. Print some onto painted papers.
9. Sometimes I start by journaling directly on the white paper, private words which will be hidden with collage papers.
10. Make the art work (collage or painting).
11. Add the text using my own handwriting/printing, alphabet stamps and stencils, or printed text.
12. Sign the work. Scan it. On the back write about the work with scripture references and date. Post to Flickr and take it to my photographer. Say thank you to the real Creator.

That's what it takes to do the work and the same hold with other artwork I do... lots of planning and thinking and prayer. Sometimes the piece comes together quickly but usually I'm at it for about a week. Often the work is spread out over several weeks, and sometimes it lies fallow for a period of time until I'm ready to begin again.


This stack of paper on the right represents what I take away from church ... printed and handwritten pages of notes that remind me of the message. We don't have preaching, we enjoy listening to an excellent Bible teacher.