I’m having a competition over on my Facebook page, where you can win a $50 voucher to spend on any of my paintings. You can even use it to commission a brand new personalised painting! Supporters over on Patreon get a bonus 5 entries. I will draw the competition on Saturday 1st July. Best of luck!
How do you give a title to your artwork? This is something I often have difficulty with. I recently finished a painting I’m struggling to find a title for.
I feel like the title should help the viewer to understand the meaning and inspiration behind the work. But I want the title to be interesting and in some cases, a little mysterious – especially in my abstract work – I want the viewer to have the chance to make up their own mind.
Sometimes, a title comes to me immediately – often this is the case for the simple images – a group of colourful trees on a night sky background becomes ‘night colour’, or an image of a baby bird taking its first flight becomes ‘brave‘.
“Night Colour”
“Brave”
For other paintings, I have more trouble thinking of a title. Sometimes I’m inspired by quotes or poetry – My painting “Hope is the thing with feathers” is inspired by a poem by Emily Dickinson.
“Hope is the thing with feathers”
The title of my painting ‘Beautiful Mysterious’, of a star filled galaxy, was inspired by a quote by Albert Einstein:
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed.”
“Beautiful Mysterious” – original watercolour purple galaxy painting by KL Bailey Art
Fellow artists: How do you come up with titles for your work? Is it something you struggle with, or does it come easily?