I mean, trying to find a title for a picture. This can be a devil of a problem on occasions. It’s fine when I’m able to produce a simply descriptive phrase….like Almscliff Crag in Snow from the South West, or How Stean Beck in Summer. Where a picture is not purely referential in this way, however, engaging with an idea, then the problem of finding a title can become problematic.
At the moment I’m trying to tie up the material to be included in my forthcoming exhibition in Lincoln Cathedral. The two groups of images which I selected originally as the focus of the occasion have presented no problem, as the titles of individual works were generated automatically by their location in the series. When I went over to Lincoln some time ago in order to size up the situation, however, I realised that the Chapter House (in which they are to be hung) is a very large space indeed, and the display would benefit from at the addition of a few more dramatic pieces. The subject of the exhibition is my response to the ancient architectural symbol of “The Green Man”….commonly found in ancient churches in this country. Already I had some pieces engaging with this theme but which I had not intended to use on this occasion. Yesterday I spent some time preparing the labels to accompany the pictures and realised that whereas finding a suitable title was not difficult in three of the four new additions to the display, one resisted every attempt on my part to find a satisfactory phrase.
It is not the case that I don’t know what is the purpose of the picture. I could write a paragraph setting out the idea I had in mind when I painted it. A title, however, cannot be of that length. Interestingly, when I resorted to my inventory to see what I might have written there, I discovered that I had not actually given a title to the piece when I completed it.
Perhaps I ought to pretend that I’m not thinking about the question at all hoping that my mind, operating at some sub-conscious level, will deliver suddenly a felicitous phrase. I know that my wife would raise Hell if I were to cop out and entitle it something like Green Man No. 4.