How to sign a painting?
 

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear Cynthia and Allan.
 

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

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

Yes I would oil it out and wipe with tissue, if the painting is dry. That is to make the brush glide just as painting in wet paint.

Best, Allan

Dear Allan and Cynthia,
 

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks again.

Cynthia, I have one more question for you: I take it you lie the painting flat on a table when you sign, am I right?

Best,

Mikael

Mikael,

I have unfortunately never figured out how to sign my oils in the script I use for works on paper (which I really like, as did one of my teachers who kindly made no comment about my painting, but at least liked the signature.

Actually the only way I would know to do this is by laying the final colors over a dry contrasting color, then sign in (scratch in) script with a pencil or other thin writing tool while the top layer of paint is wet. The only problems with this approach is that you have to be sure about where you want to place the signature and that the top layer is the final layer.

I've also played with the gold/silver pens, but the final varnish removed the ink.

Finally I rather compulsive about not signing the painting until I've placed it in its frame (or matboard), so that I can consider the location, size and color of the signature. Then I place the framed piece on the floor and hover over it so I can better control the brush.

Here's what I do when I sign my oil paintings:

I wait until the lower left area is completely finished and dry and then I put a thin layer of 50/50 linseed/OMS over it, and wipe almost all of the oil off. This helps the brush glide.

Then I draw a straight horizontal line, in paint, using a level, about an inch below the area where I will put my signature. This is so my signature is level also. I have a tendency to angle my signature upwards or to have a very wobbly and sloppy looking baseline. The horizontal line keeps me straight.

Then I sign my name in paint that is very thin (thinned using the linseed/OMS mixture. If I mess it up, I wipe off the messy parts and do it again.

Finally, when I'm happy with it, I wipe off the horizontal guideline.

(I think it would surprise our clients and collectors how much thought and effort goes into something like the signature that they probably believe is just dashed off with bravado at the completion of a painting!)

I've heard of oil painters who use a rubber stamp with their signature on it which they lightly brush with oil paint before stamping the (dry) surface of the canvas. I've never actually seen this, though.

My husband has said for years that he should sign my paintings since my signature looks so ugly. Only pride keeps me from letting him - because he is totally correct.

Dear All,
 

What a relief to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this. It just seems so embarrassing when you have made a painting that you are fairly content with, and then put a helpless blob of lines resembling a first graders attempt of writing beneath it.

Chris, I've also resorted the method of writing in the wet paint. Actually the most permanent and easy of all. It cannot be removed by careless restorers later on, and you can actually write as you would on paper. But, you are right, I hover too. And there is something about the signature that somehow is final. I guess we never really finish our paintings, we just stop at a certain point.

Michelle, Yes, that sounds about right, I also have difficulty in making it straight. Now, forgive me for being a total idiot, but as a Dane I have been trying to figure out what OMS stands for. Either my wits are going or I had too much good Roman wine yesterday evening to be able to think straight. Could you help me out?

Linda, The rubber stamp I've actually seen on some of Monet's paintings believe it or not. Talk about industrious.

Kimberly, Maybe one should hire someone to do it for us. That would take the worries away.

Lots of love from Rome,

Mikael

OMS is Odorless MIneral Spirits. I use Gamblin's Gamsol.

Mikael, Sorry it has taken me so long to reply . Things got so crazy at my house and then I had some problems with my computer but I am up and running again. It seems like you had your questions answered.

As for me, I use gamblins neo meglip as my painting medium but whatever you normally use will work fine. The liner or script brush pictured in Allan's post is like the one I use with bristles approximately 1" long. You might not find it in a catalog with the oil brushes but look in the watercolor brushes. I don't mix my medium with OMS but dip my brush in the OMS and then wipe it on a rag so that the bristles are slightly wet and then roll the brush in paint thinned with medium. The OMS in the brush seems to help the paint to flow better out of the brush. It really is a matter of trial and error to get the right consistency. I then do a practice run by writing my name on my palette to see if the flow is right. I don't oil out first like Michelle suggested but will give that a try next time. Sounds like a good idea.
And I always lay my painting flat when signing.
These are just suggestions on what I do. Lettering is not so bad for me having been a graphic designer before computers I did lots of handlettering on layouts with brushes. Now if I could only master the important part, the actual portrait painting. That is where I need all of your expertise!

Cynthia

Signature dilemmas:

To me this is the sort of composition that doesn't cry out for the signature to be placed in a particular spot. It's crowded on both bottom corners and gets complicated as you work in from those corners. Maybe one of the top corners?

We could have a "where to sign the portrait contest." The winner gets a free fifteen minute background painting seminar with me. Second place gets full day, and last place get a whole week.

Dear Cynthia F and Michelle,
 

Yes, that is what i was looking for. And don't worry about being late in answering. I'm only just back from Rome, so the timing is perfect.

Thanks all for posting all these suggestions, they have helped a lot, and as I said I'm happy that I'm not the only one struggling with this...phuii.

Michelle, OMS is of course odorless mineral spirits! This however is something entirely different in Denmark (we usually drink it if you take the mineral out of it that is!!), so that's why it didn't spring to mind. Alcohol and spirit is the same thing in Danish, and therefore I always have to do a little extra thinking when the term in Danish like turpentine which is what we call mineral spirits come up. Odorless... I'm not sure has even been invented over here. I'm sure Allan would be able to clarify that.

I will now go and sign a painting and post the result afterwords. Then you can all see whether your efforts were worthwhile.

Love to you all

Mikael

Dear Mikael,
Good to hear that you