30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 12

"Rosie"  Mixed media on aquabord, 20" x 16".  Ready to frame.  Available at Artfinder.

Westley: Well, Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. So he took me to his cabin, and told me his secret. "I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts", he said. "My name is Ryan. I inherited the ship from the previous dread pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from was not the real dread pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired fifteen years and living like a king in Patagonia." Thank you. Then he explained that the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the dread pirate Westley. So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew, and he stayed aboard for a while as first mate, all the time calling me Roberts. Once the crew believed, he left the ship, and I have been Roberts ever since. Except now that we're together, I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else. Is everything clear to you?
Buttercup: < doubtfully nods head >
[She steps into a patch of Lightning Sand, and promptly disappears] 
            from The Princess Bride

It's all in the name.

In The Princess Bride, the name Dread Pirate Roberts instills fear.  But what about in our lives?  There are names of people that instill fear, sure.  But there are also names we give things that instill fear within us.  For artists, the words "selling" or "marketing" cause knee-buckling and averting of eyes.  When we call it something else ("storytelling", for example) the grip of fear loosens and we are free to move about the cabin once more.  The word "diet" can be crippling, but "make smart choices" might seem less oppressive.  The word "budget" can make many of us head to the mall for retail therapy, but the phrase "saving for a rainy day" might inspire a few pennies set aside here and there.

This painting, named by the incredible audience at the Miami Watercolor Society yesterday, seems quite harmless.  "Rosie" does not inspire fear, but instead a sweet approachability and smile.  Doing a "demonstration" causes my knees to shake and my heart rate to accelerate.  From now on, I think instead I will refer to demonstrations as "painting Rosie."