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How do you sign your work?

Hi All,

 I am wondering how many of you sign your work. My regular (as in checkbook) signature is very "flourishy". I swear I was one of the last kids of my generation ((i'm 45) to be schooled in penmanship. So the nuns taught is Palmer method. Anyone remember that? Well, it was even going out of fashion then. I learned it well, but of course it took on a bit of its own "flava" as the years went on.

 So now with my middle name being my maiden name, mysignature is ungodly in length! So I have shortened it by using my first initial and married name. Yawn but acceptable.

I have trouble using a signing brush on my paintings.. Do I change my signature and make it more "print"-like? That seems odd to me. I don't know why this seems so important, but it does..

Do any of you oil painters ever use a signing PEN? I know of one oil painter that uses an oilbased pen of some sort.

 

Any thoughts on this?
 

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signatures

How do you do the fine details in your paintings? Use that same brush and use paint. Buy a small canvas and practice.

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I print mine

My "checkbook" signature falls into the VERY POOR penmanship catagory. When I used to do silkscreen and other print media I started printing my name on my editions for fear of it's ineligibility. I developed a printed signature during those years of signing my prints with pencil that I then carried over into my painting. I just use a #1 round brush and print/paint away...

So, in conclusion, I sign my checks and legal documents with my cursive scribble - which continues to worsen as the years go by - and sign my work with my printed (legible) signature.

Hope you find this helpful...    -Don

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A long time ago I decided to scratch the idea of using my signature in my paintings.  My signature was also horrible.  I developed a logo that included my initials.  I often am complimented on the logo.  Unlike many artists I make sure that my logo/signature is not the focal point of the painting.  I've seen some signatures that were bright red when the rest of the painting was in cool colors...it just didn't make sense to me.  The signature/logo should be a part of the art so that the viewer can concentrate on the work and not the awful bright red signature in the corner.  I think it's ok to use your signautre as long as you don't bring too much attention to it.  If someone wants to know who's work it is they'll look for your signature.

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Signatures

You can see my signature on my acrylics. I use an archival permanent marker called, "Writer"  by Zig.  You can find them at any scrap booking store.  They come in all kinds of colors if you do not want black and white.  They come in different sizes and can be used for calligraphy.  I love them!   Deb

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Signature

I never wanted to sign my work because i always thought it ruined the paintings, lol. Until one day i started getting my work framed and they told me they wouldn't frame it without a signature, sooo after much protest i decided to add my signature but instead of signing my whole name i signed my first and last initial very small, in the bottom right corner of my paintings, sometimes i even try to hide it. Is that bad?

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With a Logo

It's a long story, but I'll keep it short. I use the letter "M" for Melissa in a block. The letter itself is transparent so that you can see the art through it and I rarely put it in the same place on every piece. I did this for a couple of reasons.

First, book publishers have nasty habit of cropping off the artist's signature. (Yes, intentionally). They want the cover art to be associated with the publishing house and not the artist. I wanted to make that practice more trouble than it was worth. 

Second, I have a couple of years on you and publishers were (still are) not keen on hiring a woman if they could hire a man. With a logo signature, they focus on the art and not the gender of the artist. Once they like it it's too late.

Third, I started working professionally before I was married and I didn't want a name change to be an issue. If I had changed my name when I did marry, my fans wouldn't have a clue. Also if I had hyphenated it, it would have sounded like a crooked law firm. (Benson-Jacouzzi)

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Signing my work

I sign my paintings in printed caps (= Joe Barnes's block letters, I think), very neatly. I sign with a brush in watercolors or oils, whichever I'm working in, with a fine brush (in proportion to the painting). I go over my signature until it looks right. I sign my maiden name, usually including my middle name...

Once upon a time, in my first marriage, when I was still vacillating over whether to go by my maiden name or my husband's name socially, I did a simple decorative painting for use to block out a window (our bedroom was also my husband's dry darkroom), and I signed it EAH (my initials). My husband said - joking, I think - "Why don't you sign it EAHW?" (W being his last initial.) I kinda saw red & went, "You want me to put YOUR name on MY art???" That made it very clear how important my signature is to me.

On a couple of my bigger oils, I have put just my first and last name. On my non-portrait watercolors, I sometimes sign in pencil in the lower margin, as well as in watercolor on the painting, and add the name of the piece in pencil. I always date, usually with month, day and year, but on some oils or smaller pieces, just month & year, or just the year.

The only exception to my printed signature is on prints when I've done them - etchings or linocuts; I usually etch or cut my name onto the block or plate (I can write backwards), but then I also write my name in pencil in the margin of the print, and in this case it's my cursive signature. I sign collages in pencil, in printed caps, in the margin if there is one, with the date.

Boy, this has revealed how varied my methods have been, as I've walked around looking at my pieces. Some of my watercolors don't have a second signature in the margin, only the title; I signed some older watercolors in rapidograph with India ink...

One thing I started doing at least ten years ago, was to make sure my signature was at least 1/4" in from the edge of the painting, to try to keep my clients' framers from covering my signature up with the mat. When I do the matting myself, I expose a quarter inch of the margin, feeling that that's part of the painting; but other framers don't see it that way...

I consider my signature, and the date, part of the beauty of the piece (maybe that's because I love words, too).

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