The One with the Signs for Amity

Recently I was hired to hand paint some signs for a grocery story in Amity, Oregon, called Amity Foods. I basically repeated the same process as with the Carson General Store sign, only this project was much bigger. I painted 8 eight-foot signs in black and white with a burgundy border. It took a long time and the black paint was difficult to make even.

To begin, the boards were primed and painted white. Then, after projecting the image and tracing the letters, I did the first round of outlining in black paint.

This part made me feel like a real artist because it reminded me of Michaelangelo's quote when asked about the statue of David, "How do you take a rough stone and make such beauty from it?" to which he replied, "I just carve away anything that isn't art." This project made me feel like I was carving away everything that wasn't the letters of the signs. Silly, I know, but it got me through the very long process.


It took a few more rounds of touch-ups with white and black paint alternatively to perfect the signs. And finally I added a burgundy border. And here's a shot of what all the signs looked like lined up and waiting to be picked up by the owners of the Amity store.


Sorry about the glare, the black paint was very shiny. One of these days I'm hoping to drop by the store and get pictures of them actually mounted. Until then, you'll just have to get the idea from the lineup above.