SIGN PAINTER LENNY

8'x8' Sign

          My wife Sarah and I are involved with the Farmer's Market in Woodstock, NB. where she sells her baking, other culinary wares and eggs and I sell my artwork, books and cards.  Almost every Friday, we travel to the market place in old "Buddy" (3/4 ton diesel truck) - it's my big day out once a week, whether I need one or not.  Last Friday, I finished lettering a sign on the wall, which took about a day and a half to produce.  It seemed a little odd to drag out my old lettering brushes to paint the wall because it was something I hadn't done for quite a few years but I guess it's like riding a bicycle, once a person learns how to do it, they never forget.  Since there are quite a few farmers and crafts people that sell their wares at the market, I had quite a few requests regarding the contents of the basket and what was strewn about it.  Unable to please everyone, I just pretty much painted anything that I thought would be appropriate and hopefully there won't be any noses out of joint when they see the finished product.  I have to admit as much as I enjoyed lettering signs over the years, I always just looked at the profession as a bread and butter situation and hardly ever got excited about the results.  I've painted a lot of different things and one of the largest and most unusual advertisements I was commissioned to paint was a gigantic blimp in the shape of an orca - Ruthy the Rutherford Whale, which once it was up in the air, didn't seem to look that big.

          The other day, a friend of mine asked me to letter some plywood boards, which he had painted with white enamel.  He was hoping I would do something very creative with them but the content was so generic, which many directional signs are, I told him that I was just going to apply lick n' stick vinyl letters to the boards because the signs were just too boring.  Also, if I had done a real number on them and then hit him with a price, his nose would most likely have been more out of joint - after all - anyone who brings me rough plywood boards (that will be lucky to hold up in the weather for a year) they've painted themselves, tells me they are already trying to save money.  And unfortunately, since the boards were so rough, the vinyl letters wouldn't stick to them.  But since I can be an ornery, cussed old guy at times, I just cut some coraplast blanks, which were the same size as the boards and applied the lettering to them so he can either screw them to the boards or whatever else he likes.  Either way, I'm finished with them.

          And talking about being an ornery and cussed old guy (I was a younger guy then) I once took a sign order over the phone to hand letter some large paper banners for a sale.  When I delivered them to the store in a shopping mall, the man of East Indian descent (no reflection on his race because I did work for other East Indians and had some good friends as well) after looking at them, told me the signs weren't what he had ordered and offered, because I had put so much work into them, to pay me only half the agreed price.  Since I was mainly out my time for lettering the signs, hardly any money tied up in materials, I said, "Fine," as I tore them in half and started walking towards the door.  The look on his face was priceless, worth more than the signs as I walked out of the door, looking over my shoulder, leaving half of them lying on the floor and continued saying, "If you decide to pay the full price, I'll bring the other half back."  Thinking back to that time, still puts a gigantic smile on my face, which goes to prove, it's the small things in life that are more meaningful and have more value - money isn't always cracked up to be what it's supposed to be, and clearly, the dollar bill meant a lot to that storekeeper than it did to me - cheers, eh!