Titles

For the last few years I have rarely titled my paintings. It seemed to me that if a title didn't pop into my mind while I was painting, then the painting should not be titled. If the absolute perfect title wouldn't come to me, then leave it alone--a title would not be authentic. I also thought that a title would limit how people would look at an image and I wanted people to come up with their own impressions.

Well, now I've decided to try titling my paintings more often. I am wondering: maybe I've been cutting myself off from too much verbal thinking and maybe I'm in a bit of a visual rut. (blogging is another way that I'm sticking my toes into the verbal dimension!)

I am trained and have worked as an art therapist. I've not been practicing for a few years, but recently I've been tapping into that part of myself. The psychological issue of "denial" comes to mind when looking at my art with a therapist's eye. Are there things I don't want to think about? If I start applying words to my art , what's going to happen--will I dig up stuff? Maybe it just feels safer to paint and leave it at that!

I'm not sure why, but right now I'm increasingly amenable to seeing what happens when I add some words to the images. I've now given titles to some of the art in my previous postings. I'm not sure they are the perfect titles, but maybe I'll learn something about myself and my art with them there.