For a while I was getting Major Stress when it came to signing my name to a painting. Really. Seems ironic, since I am typically a detailed-oriented person and this seems like a small detail in the whole spectrum of creating a painting.
In my early paintings I liked signing my name, first and last, in a very innocuous lowercase script. At least I thought I did. Frankly it's kind of tedious. Long. Difficult to write out, even with a good pastel pencil or a sharpened NuPastel, without feeling like the whole thing is off-kilter and now the painting is ruined and oh the agita!
Then it occurred to me to change how I sign my name. I don't have one of those three-word artist names that rolls off the tongue or makes for a compact monogram. But I do have a unique first name. Chana. Pronounced 'shay-na' but spelled (or misspelled?) with a 'c' deliberately because after nearly 40 years it's still fun to correct how otherwise literate people butcher it.
Along those lines, it's not a common name. Actually borders on unusual, at least where I live. And that's fine by me. After a brush with suspected identity theft a few years back, I came to learn that there aren't that many Chanas in this corner of the world. Fewer still who paint with pastels. So that's what we're going with.
Already I am thrilled with how easily the marks of the all uppercase letters come together. Clean, simple, direct. Chana. A signature where there once was just a name.
In my early paintings I liked signing my name, first and last, in a very innocuous lowercase script. At least I thought I did. Frankly it's kind of tedious. Long. Difficult to write out, even with a good pastel pencil or a sharpened NuPastel, without feeling like the whole thing is off-kilter and now the painting is ruined and oh the agita!
Then it occurred to me to change how I sign my name. I don't have one of those three-word artist names that rolls off the tongue or makes for a compact monogram. But I do have a unique first name. Chana. Pronounced 'shay-na' but spelled (or misspelled?) with a 'c' deliberately because after nearly 40 years it's still fun to correct how otherwise literate people butcher it.
Along those lines, it's not a common name. Actually borders on unusual, at least where I live. And that's fine by me. After a brush with suspected identity theft a few years back, I came to learn that there aren't that many Chanas in this corner of the world. Fewer still who paint with pastels. So that's what we're going with.
Already I am thrilled with how easily the marks of the all uppercase letters come together. Clean, simple, direct. Chana. A signature where there once was just a name.