Why Do I Sign My Paintings With 4 Dots? Symbolism in Art

I’ve done a deep-dive journey back through my catalog of 1948 individual original paintings since 2006… with an interest in finding out WHEN I started using 4 Dots (which I later termed “Sparkle”) with my signature on my paintings.

Read the blog post that describes Sparkle and my early painting influences

 

I Know WHY I put 4 dots by my signature… but I’ve been recently wondering WHEN it all started.

Here’s Where My Research Took Me (and what a pleasure to research your OWN past and your OWN creations that bring you joy to create!):

 

BLUE IN THE SHADOWS and SPRINKLING SUNSHINE, 2 paintings in a set that straddle the end of June and the beginning of July, 2007, seem to be the start of the addition of ‘dots’. At that time, I used several in a row beneath my name, and I seem to remember, somewhere in the crevasses of my memory… doing that. Thinking of that horizontal line of dots as a form of ‘order’ in an expressive painting.

I took these two paintings to an outdoor wine and art fair and they were claimed quite quickly by a couple that became early collectors of my work!

 

 

 

Just before these two pieces, in June, ROOTS & WINGS shows zero dots. And a signature that is quite hidden in the warm colors! 

 

 

LISTEN, created in August of 2007, shows that I was contemplating adding the dots under the ‘K’, but was doing 5 dots.

 

 

 

FREE SPIRIT, created in August of 2007, has the 4 dots but at the END of the signature!

 

 

 

 

It seems that by September of 2007, I had firmly decided that the 4 dots belonged under the K, and I’ve been doing that ever since. Beginning with THE MOMENTS TRILOGY.

 

 

 

Now that we’ve established WHEN the 4 dots became a thing. WHY did they become a thing?

It’s really quite simple, and I can show you with 2 photographs.

 

 

My 3 siblings and myself, as adults now.

The FOUR of us grew up in the country, without regular television programming, without a lot of things. But we had each other. We had our pencils and paper, our legos, our play-doh. We had our games and our make-believe adventures. Our box forts, our barn loft fort, our tree forts, our tunnels through the brambles.

As we grew, we went in different directions, but have always found each other. In our mid-40s to early 50’s now, we connect regularly and keep a daily (practically) texting thread going, with photos, memories, silly things, family updates and questions.

 

My little family of 4.

My second son was born in January of 2006, so it makes sense to me that by the time he was 18 months old, I was incorporating the symbolism of our family into my paintings, every painting.

 

Thus... need it be said, the 4 dots entered my paintings in June/July of 2007 and have remained for almost 18 years.

 

In 2009, I began officially calling my dots “Sparkle”, and I began to think of and describe my Sparkle as “love on a molecular level” – the particles of love that flow from the eyes, lips and body of one family member, and rains down over the others. Important molecules of connection. Evidence of the fact that we all influence each other. I’ve been adding Sparkle to my paintings ever since.

Read the blog post that describes Sparkle and my early painting influences