How to sign a painting?

[Mikael Melbye]

Now...at the risk of being burned at the stakes, I'll throw this one in the arena:

How do you sign a painting?

Whenever I get to this seemingly uncomplicated stage of the painting, my otherwise steady hand starts to resemble the head of late goddess/actress Katherine Hepburn (God bless her soul). The otherwise flowing paint that I spend months and years with, start to get on the canvas in lumps, in broad unflattering lines, definitely not where I want them to go, and so on.

Sometimes when browsing through the more industrial galleries of Santa Fe, I sometimes see artist that sign there painting with a flow that resemble the signing of a check. And I get terribly envious. Does there exist a pen with oil paint that will make it look like that?

Do you use a completely different kind of paint?

Do tell me,

love, Mikael

[Claudemir Bonfim]

I only know this one, but I don't use it to sign paintings. I use it to write on the back of the canvas. But I know that there artists who use it to sign their works, it's not oil paint, it's some kind of permanent ink.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

By the way, it comes in many different colors, including silver and gold.

[Allan Rahbek]

Mikael,
This is a question in line with the question of which frame to use.

Signing the canvas is a detail that comes extra to the design and is hard to fit in. It is a sort of break or changing the scene. The name of the author is a detail that has nothing to do with the picture, I think. But It has non the less been a tradition to add the name in some sort or the other on the artwork.

The most striking signatures are the ones written in the wet paint.

I think that any personal design will work as long as it is not too dominating.

By the way, I had a fabulous experience yesterday that I believe that you will be the only one on this to really appreciate.

I was talking to the resident of the house that I am recently thatching. He is a Swede and about to go back to Sweden these days. He was carrying furnitures and paintings out of the house and we had a chat about paintings. He showed me some paintings from a Swedish painter that had a special signature on his paintings. He always painted a flying cow somewhere in the paintings and he was called the "Flygende Kusse"
You see, anything will do.

Best Allan

[Mikael Melbye]

Dear Allan and Claudemir,

Thanks for your tips, but I don't think that I would ever use anything but oil paint to sign my paintings with. Also I have no problem where to put the signature, and how large it should be. My problem is simply the viscosity of the oil paint which is not suitable to write with. The painters that I mentioned in the beginning of the thread were a certain category of western painters (like in cowboys and Indians) that had the most elegant and fluid signature. Thin in the line, and like written with a pen but clearly in some kind of paint. I once tried some lacker used for model trains and airplanes, but that didn't work. It bleed into the weave of the canvas, and the result was smeared. So there we are.

Best wishes,

Mikael

[Allan Rahbek]

Dear Mikael,
Back to basics. When I sign a painting I use a thin round sable brush and some fluid oil paint and just write my name and year. If the painting is dry I may use several attempts to get it right.

Allan

[Cynthia Feustel]

Mikael,
Have you ever tried using a sable liner brush? I use one with watercolor to make long flowing lines but they also work with oil. The trick is to thin the paint with a painting medium to get the right viscosity of paint. The paint needs to be thin enough to flow but not too thin to become transparent. The brush is loaded by rolling it on its side so the paint gets loaded the full length of the bristles. When you use it be sure to hold it very straight up vertically so you are just writing with the tip. The idea is that there is enough paint in the brush to make a long flowing line without having to reload the brush. The brushes come in different sizes for different line widths. You may find you like it for other places in your painting where you need a long continuous line. I can post a picture in a few days if you want. Tomorrow we are having a graduation party for our daughter. Lots of family, friends, food and a day or two afterwards to recuperate.

I have been keeping up with your posts and visited your web site. Great work!

Cynthia

[Allan Rahbek]

Originally Posted by Cynthia Feustel

The brushes come in different sizes for different line widths. You may find you like it for other places in your painting where you need a long continuous line. Cynthia

Once upon a time, when in Norway, I bought some real Rose Painting brushes.
They are squirrel tail hairs mounted in a feather pen a used for thin lines and letters in traditional Norwegian decorations.

Usually the painter oiled out the surface, to be decorated, with some linseed oil in a thin layer, that was wiped off again, leaving only a little oil to make the surface sticky.

Allan

[Mikael Melbye]

Thanks for the great advice.

I do have one of those at home in Denmark and have used it for this purpose. But he tip about getting it full by rolling it in paint is probably what i didn't do. So thats what I'll try.

Allan, it is a relief to me that you have also had to make several attempts at this. One of my teachers, American painter Francis Cunningham, always said he dreaded this work because of the same difficulties.

Cynthia, What medium do you thin the color with, or is it of minor importance? How long is your liner? 1''?

Best wishes

Mikael

[Mikael Melbye]

Oh, one last thing, Allan, would you oil in the area to be signed when using this tool?