A Sign of Something: Peace, Love and Flowers

Peace, Love and Flowers, or Nature, or…

The peace sign is a peaceful blue, and the heart is a vibrant red, the flower is a sunflower, specifically a woodland sunflower, a motif you may see frequently on this site. The color is golden yellow, but the center is stippled on with copper metallic paint, just to give it a little sparkle and dimension. It could be “Peace, Love & Flowers” or “Peace, Love & Nature” or “Peace, Love & Wildflowers”, and possibly more interpretations, but I’m not sure it needs to be put into words.

This sign can be hung indoors or out. The weathered wood has already taken a beating and the acrylic paints are colorfast and permanent on the wood.

I adapted this design from my feline painted sign, “Peace, Love & Cats”, which is stenciled/painted in white on the same wood, but this one is vertical instead of horizontal, just for a change. I’ve been intending to work up this little sign, and a few others too, since before my Panhandle Trail exhibit in August, so I’m glad to finally get around to this one. More will be forthcoming.

I just started doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. Originally my signs were hand-painted, not stenciled. I was a sign painter 30 years ago and I’ve wanted to paint some decorative signs since they’ve become popular again. I gave the wood and the paint and two designs a try, then decided on four designs and started painting.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

The wood is very rough and weathered so I give it a sanding, then wipe it down with a tack cloth. Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign. There is no way to smooth out the surface so I just deal with it as I paint.

Find more

See more Signs in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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