Whats in a title?

I visited one of my favourite galleries yesterday, always a joy, and lovely to see their latest batch of paintings. Some I really liked, some were mediocre, a lot of them were tastefully arranged young women with only the hint of nipple on show - any bums, crotches and full breasts were covered artistically (and disappointingly) with a cloth (unlike my drawings!). But what I was struck by was the naff titles of the paintings - they were something along the line of "garden", "beach at sunset", "picking flowers". And didn't, for me, involve any emotion in the painting, as they were actually of a beautiful girl, or a couple of pretty girls, within the garden or beach setting - so, if they had been something along the lines of - "Julia in the garden", then I'd have instantly had an affinity with "Julia", or if they had been less personalised but perhaps invoking an emotion - like "picking flowers for mum" or "Sunset thoughts of my lover" then I'd have been happier with the painting. But, I suppose for a lot of people, once they've bought a painting and hung it on the wall, what does it matter what the painting is called?


I can agonise for days over the title of a painting, sometimes taking longer to think of it than it actually took to paint it! And on the whole I like my titles (I'm not saying they're the best in the world, because they're not, but hopefully they convey something into the painting through them). Although the fanny paintings that I'm currently working on will be called something along the lines of "fanny 1", "fanny 2", "fanny 3" etc that is ONLY to protect the identity of the person behind the painting, and not because of any inability to think of a title on my part.


I have painted lots of watercolour paintings of tigers. I love tigers. I love their bright dramatic colouring, their stripes, their menace, and the whole cat thing about them. So the first tiger painting I did was quite naturally called "Burning Bright". The next one I did was called "Tiger bright" then followed "Spitting mad" since the tiger was all teeth and fury. After that followed "The tiger within" since the tiger looked like it was looking though a wall of water at the viewer. Then came "Cool regard" as the tiger was looking quietly at the viewer, and then came the jokey one which I called "Tiger spotted" since there were two tigers in the painting, one all regal and majestic in the foreground, and the other was approaching from a distance, having spotted him, and it amused me to call it that, as tigers aren't spotted, they're striped (as well you know). So, all tiger paintings, all with titles I was happy with. Then came the painting I did of a tiger swimming. I was really pleased with the painting, it had gone beautifully, looked good, and was technically well done, showing the body of the tiger submerged beneath the green waters. But what to call it? I went though all the titles I could think of ....... tiger swimming, tiger in water, water tiger, swimming tiger...... none of them worked.......... so in the end I called it "Sea for cat" being a pun on the phrase "C for cat" and it amused me to call it that. But I had chickened out of the title I SHOULD have gone for...........it was so obvious, so deliciously apt, so totally RIGHT, and yet I didn't use it!! So, now you're wondering what it is, what I should have called this painting of a swimming tiger?



Yep, its........................................ "Wet pussy"!!!!!!

Winning

I spent all morning yesterday sorting out three paintings to enter into a local art competition. The pictures were already painted and framed, I just had to sort out the details for the stipulations for entering them in the competition - on the back of the painting had to be the name of artist (I knew that bit!), media and price (I always do that anyway), and contact details (does that mean just a phone number, or address as well? - ok, I'll do both), and on the front there had to be all the details again, written on a label, attached with string, so that the label can hang down infront of the painting. Ok, I did that. Then I had to put cardboard protective corners on each painting, and as the bloody things wouldn't stay on, had to attach them with masking tape, wrap all three paintings in bubble wrap, put them in my carrying bag, and fill out the form. Name, address, names of paintings, media, price and size - what on earth do they want size for? And in inches or centimetres? I work in inches, but I bet they work in centimetres, and I presume they mean the outside size of the frame, and not the size of the actual painting inside the frame? Find a tape measure, measure them, and put the figures on the form. I still can't think why they want the measurements - they've got the paintings, what difference does having the measurements figures make? Pack the whole lot into the car and drive to the venue (a new one for me, although I've entered this competition before, it was at a different place last year). I found it easily enough, and handed my paintings in, paid the hanging fees, they didn't want the bloody cardboard protective corners I'd so carefully applied, so I had to remove them all again and got the bloody masking tape stuck to all the bubble wrap, had a brief chat and came away again. So now I've got to wait til the end of the week to see whether they've been accepted, or rejected, in which case I'll have to go and collect any rejects next weekend, and the ones that have been accepted will be hung and judged along with the others in due course. It'd be nice to win the top prize, or even any prize. Last year I didn't win anything. This year I've got different pictures, and I rate a couple of them, the third might be a bit weird for the judges, but we'll see. None of them are erotic. I was supremely pissed off last year when I saw one of the paintings that won a "distinction" prize. As it was an absolute and exact copy of another artists work. She runs local art workshops and paints in a particular style, and the subject matter is of a particular type, so very easily recognised, and the painting that got the award last year was a direct copy of her work, most probably done on one of the workshops. So was I angry? Yes, I bloody was!! That my artwork which was unique, individual and not plagiarised, didn't win against a direct copy of someone elses work. I almost said something at the time to the organisers, but thought it would look like "sour grapes" on my part, so didn't. Do I wish I had? Maybe.


But, as far as winning is concerned - I won the top prize in a local art exhibition a few years ago, and that was a brilliant experience. There were three categories, and an overall top prize, which the judge judged on "If there was a fire, and I had to run out of the building with just one painting, which one would it be?" - and that was the prize I won, with one of my tiger portraits "Burning bright". Infact the judge liked it so much, he bought it from me afterwards, which doubly made my day - I sang at the top of my voice all the way home!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!