There are so many differing opinions about signing your artwork. Some say always sign on the front of your painting, some say never sign, or sign on the back. Georgia O’Keefe never signed hers on the front, although many times she wrote on the back of her works. Some artists use their first name. Van Gogh didn’t sign all of his works, but when he did he always used his first name only. Some artists use their last name, some both names, some initials, and on and on…
But before I could do anything, I needed to address the question of my name. What’s in a name, anyway? I have struggled, to say the least, with my name.
First names, first. Patricia. Ok, that seems tame enough. However, it’s complicated. I have always secretly yearned for a one-name name – like Jill, or Joan, or Lynn. One that can’t be changed. You know what I mean? My mom called me Patti, my dad called me Patsy, my brother and sister started with Trish, turned to Treeze, turned to Tree. Add to that the fact that, no matter what the environment, work or school, there were always at least three Patricias in every room with their own name variations. Not exactly unique in my era. I have a few friends who actually call me Patricia, but most people, I guess, call me Trish. For teaching, I opted for Pat, as that seems practical and easy — even if it is a bit androgynous. All things considered, not really a unique name. And it’s long, too.
When I first started painting, I started signing “Treeze,” mainly because I thought it was different. When I finally Googled it, however, I found that I was wrong. It’s not unique. And then I decided it sounded cheesy for me anyway. So, I got frustrated and signed a few paintings simply “T.” Then I tried using combinations of initials… but which initials? I tried various designs for “Ppr,” but they all looked somehow corporate, so I finally abandoned that idea, too.
And then there’s my last name… hmmm… My legal name is “Ramsey,” but there are many many Ramseys out there. So, I’ve settled on my original last name, the one I was born with, “Prakope.” That’s who I am. I am definitely Prakope. In fact, some people I know have always just called me “Prakope.” Let’s forget my first name completely, shall we? The bonus? There are not many Prakopes out there.
With that issue solved, I went on to build this website. Of course, there had to be a crimp. I found that the only other Prakope alive (no, no, not true — just joking) had already taken my chosen website name, sooo…. I went with pprakope.com (Patricia Prakope is my original, actual, name in fact — Yay!) And just so there’s no confusion, I like to tell people, “Yes, that’s two ‘p’s” on pprakope.com.”
Finally, I had to decide how to sign my paintings with “Prakope.” Eeeesh. Many painters say we should always use the same paint we’ve used in the painting — don’t use markers or pens. That took some practice for me. I finally learned how, with many many trials and errors. I always print now (cursive was very hard for me) with a very fine paint brush. And I try to sign on the front, if I think it will look o.k. There are a few paintings that I did not sign because I thought my signature would take away from the painted image. And most important for me was the brush. I had to find the right brush for signing. I always use my lucky Royal & Langnickel, Zen, Script Liner-Z73SL, size 10/0 https://art.royalbrush.com/brush-collections/zen.
Voila! Problem solved…