No. 381: Sand, Sun and Sea Shack

"Sand, Sun and Sea Shack" by Tom Wills, August 2017, acrylic on wood.

In Gulfport, Fla. there is a “Sign Up for Gulfport” home-naming and sign movement. There’s a Facebook page and a web site where the residents post their happy and mostly custom-made house and/or porch signs in a friendly competition. 

I will soon have two signs for sunny days real estate in Gulfport, bordering St. Petersburg and Boca Ciega Bay. The population there is about 12,000 and “Old Florida" describes the waterfront district, with small cottages and small shops and eateries.

Some visitors to the sign site are lauding the “Sand, Sun and Sea Shack” for its detail and colors. It certainly is vibrant, and the details include small, real sea shells and the homeowners’ three dachshunds lounging in the yard.

The first Tom Wills Productions sign to hit Gulfport was “The Bourbon Porch,” which you can see here.  http://tomwillsproductions.blogspot.com/2017/06/no-376-bourbon-porch.html
For this one, I took the lessons learned before and notched up the effort, using all of the acrylic paints and brushes and tricks at my disposal.

Both signs were commissioned by the same couple. Both times, I was given a simple sketch upon which to build. I generated my own sketch, and then we’d meet over lunch to fine-tune details and colors.

But as the project went along, I took a few artistic liberties.  The sky was planned to be blue with puffy white clouds.

But someone at work had brought back from Florida salt water taffy in one of those bright postcard-like boxes, emblazoned with “Florida” and a blazing sun and leaning palm trees. I liberated that skyline.

When it came to the lettering, I chose orange for “Shack” because the planned goldenrod color did not stand out enough from the beach sand.  The yellow letters are tiki-styled but in keeping with the "shack" theme I made them look like planks haphazardly nailed together.
Other than that, it’s pretty close to the original sketches. The customer wanted, and got, the coral-and-peach beach house, gecko decor on the porch, dolphins, sea birds and their fur babies (one -- a rescue -- is missing an eye, poor thing). 

I glued on the shells and sea glass, then sealed the whole thing in at least 12 costs of outdoor-quality spar varnish, so that it will withstand the elements of heat, light and humidity. It's oak, and very heavy.

I’m not really a painter and I certainly do not aspire to be a sign painter.  But I’ve now done three outdoor signs, also including Storyteller Photography.  http://tomwillsproductions.blogspot.com/2013/04/no-196-storyteller-photography.html
Each one builds upon the previous, adding layers of details and more colors. There are a lot of coats of paint here, many layers of colors — enough to generate a fun feeling of sand, sun and sea.