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How to title artwork

Night Colour - original watercolour painting of swirly rainbow trees by KL Bailey Art

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 - original watercolour painting of swirly rainbow trees by KL Bailey Art
“Night Colour”

 

"Brave" - original watercolor painting by Kirsten Bailey
“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 - original watercolour painting of a bird in a swirly tree by KL Bailey Art
“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
“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?

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Abstract watercolours

I love painting in watercolours – it’s definitely my favourite medium.  My watercolours are a bit unusual compared to many I’ve seen, as many of them are abstract or naive in style.  I love making abstract watercolours because it gives me a chance to let the paint have a ‘mind of its own’.

Many of my favourite abstract watercolours are inspired by science, like my ‘Moons of Jupiter’ series:

“Moons of Jupiter – Callisto”
“Moons of Jupiter – Europa”

Some more ‘space’ inspired works:

“Imagination Encircling”
“Persistent Illusion”
Red Planet - abstract watercolour painting of Mars by KL Bailey Art
“Red Planet”

From the very big to the very small – some of my other abstract watercolours are inspired by microscopic images:

"Filtered" red and blue abstract watercolour painting by kirsten bailey
“Filtered”
"Needle" - original abstract watercolour painting by kirsten bailey
“Needle”

But I think my favourite overall is this one – it’s only a tiny painting, but it has a lot of detail:

Subterranean - original abstract watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
“Subterranean”
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Don’t Forget to be Awesome

So I haven’t posted here in a while, for a lot of reasons – I haven’t had much time for creating since I had my kids, and I’ve had even less time for the more tedious aspect to having an art business: promotion.  I’ve completed a few paintings since I last posted, but just didn’t get around to putting them up here.  I’m also hoping for a long-overdue overhaul of this website, but I’ve decided not to wait until that’s done before I start getting organised again.

My latest painting is called DFTBA, and I think it’s very fitting that this is the beginning of my creative revival.  I hope you like it!

Don't forget to be awesome - space painting by KL Bailey Art
Don’t forget to be awesome
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Painting for Baby

Today I finished a painting for my son’s nursery.  I’m very happy with it!  Not least of all because he smiled when he saw it 🙂

IMG_1223

I haven’t had a chance to scan it yet, so this is just a picture from my phone and so not the best quality, but I don’t plan on making prints of this one anyway – it’s a special painting just for my little boy.  The blue and yellow trees represent my husband and myself, and the little green tree represents my baby boy.  I chose these colours specifically to show that he is a mix of the two of us.  Inside the blue and yellow trees are green hearts, to represent that he is always in our hearts.

While I won’t be selling this painting or making prints of it, if you like this idea for a baby nursery, I can create a custom artwork for you.  You can choose the colours of the trees, their positions, sizes, etc.

I think this would make a lovely gift for a new baby – my son’s painting has a personal inscription on the back of it from me.  I hope that when he grows up, it will be something he treasures.

 

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Hope Within

Last weekend, I finished this painting, which I’ve titled Hope Within.

Hope Within - Original watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey

It’s been sitting unfinished for a long time, and to be honest I wasn’t sure if I would ever finish it.

I started this painting last year when I found out I was pregnant.  When I later miscarried, I put the painting away because looking at it made me sad.  They say that time heals all wounds, and while maybe they never heal completely they do hurt less.  Last weekend I finally picked up the brush to finish this work.

After all that time (it’s been nearly a year), the meaning of the painting has evolved.  When I started it, it was a symbol of the life growing inside me.  Now I see it as a symbol of the fact that I haven’t given up hope.

Sorry for the sad (and maybe too personal) post.  I debated with myself about sharing this with you, but ultimately I think I needed to explain the meaning behind the painting.

 

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Getting My Groove Back

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve done more painting than I probably did during the whole of last year.

There were lots of reasons for it including work (my day job is teaching) as well as some difficult things I was going through. I just wasn’t in the mood to paint, and when I did give it a go I wasn’t happy with the results.

For one reason or another, I seem to have gotten my ‘groove’ back, and have lots of new ideas for paintings running around in my head.  I’ve decided to finish off any unfinished work before I get to the new stuff.

You might remember a while back that I started a commission for some friends of mine.  The challenge was to create a large acrylic on canvas version of my painting Colours of Nature.  Well, I finally finished it!  All those little swirls took quite a while but I’m very happy with the result.  I can’t wait to see it hanging up!

Rainbow Trees - Acrylic on Canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey

After finishing this painting I felt such a sense of accomplishment, I wanted to do more!

First I painted this one, which I’m calling “Rainbow on a Cloudy Day”.  It’s a LOT smaller than the one above – it’s only 4″ x 6″.  It can stand up on its own so can be put on a shelf instead of hung on the wall.

Rainbow on a Cloudy Day - Original acrylic on canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey

After completing this one I really wanted to have a go at some other new ideas in my head (and play with some new paints) but I thought I should finish off some unfinished work.  So…

Evening Bloom - mixed media on canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey

I finished this one, which has been sitting and waiting patiently for more than a year for some attention.  Well, it’s nearly finished anyway – all I have to do is spray on a coat of sealant and it’s done.  I have done many watercolour paintings in this style, but it was a challenge to create the same effect with a canvas!  I’m eager to try to do more like this.

Finally, I also finished this painting:

Golden Autumn - Watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey

There was really no excuse for not getting this painting finished earlier, as all that was left to do was the tree trunks and branches – all of the detail work in the swirls was already finished.  I’m very happy with how it turned out in the end!

Hopefully I will be able to keep you up-to-date with lots of new work in the future!

 

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And Spring Arose…

I recently ordered from Etsy a set of vintage book pages:

According to the seller they are from 1889 and 1899, so I was very excited to receive them in beautiful condition!

I finished my first artwork featuring one of these vintage pictures today.  The title “And Spring Arose” was inspired by the following poem:

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

And Spring Arose - original watercolour and collage by Kirsten Bailey
And Spring Arose

I really enjoyed working on this piece, and I look forward to seeing what I can come up with for the other pictures.

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Illustration Friday – Proverb

This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is “Proverb”.

I slacked off last week and didn’t post anything for the “dessert” topic, but I’ve definitely made up for it this week! (Actually I did create something for the dessert theme but wasn’t happy with it so didn’t post it.)

I went a little nuts with this theme, and created not one but 5 paintings!  I’m thinking of doing a few more and making a calendar of proverb paintings.  What do you think?

From Little Acorns - Original Watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder - Original watercolor painting by Kirsten Bailey
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Where You are Planted - Original watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
Bloom Where You are Planted
Spice of Life - Original watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
Variety is the Spice of Life
Sunshine and Rainbows - original watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
It Takes Both Rain and Sunshine to Make Rainbows

I hand-wrote the proverbs onto the paintings after the paint had dried, using black ink and a calligraphy pen – one of the old fashioned ones that you dip in the ink.  I was very relieved not to have any major ink-blot mishaps on the paintings (although I got lots of ink on my fingers)!