What's In a Name

What’s in a name? I often find titling a painting the hardest part of the process. Years ago, I had a printmaking teacher tell me that I must name my work, even if I call a piece Fred, that titles are very important. Just like people need a name, so does artwork. A way of claiming it, giving it stature. So I began calling my paintings by different pet names, the name of my dog, Miranda, my daughter’s cat, Mithril, my neighbors cat, Nexus, and such like that. Then I began to get into more obtuse, obscure names, like Contingencies, or Landings. When I outgrew that, I began to use more poetic, fanciful names, invented while playing with refrigerator magnet words or words that arise on their own. Naming is still a mystery to me. Sometimes the title has a life of its own and is effortless, like the painting; sometimes it is a struggle, also like a painting. So this painting is, at present, titled Some Like It Blue. It is derived from Some Like It Hot, as this painting, and the series it has fostered, are, to me, hot. This is the painting that now dresses my livingroom.