Next year's challenge

The primary purpose of the Sign Invitational is to encourage and inspire other sign makers to do more creative projects in their work. The small display signs they create for the contest will hang in their studios and hopefully sell creative projects in years to come. I know this to be true because we have about 135 such samples on the walls of our shop and studio, and it is the reason we sell much of our work. The Sign Invitational pieces on display attract a huge following at the show. Each time I hear someone wish they could sell work like this, I throw them a challenge to enter next year’s contest and, in the process, take a positive step towards their stated wish. It works!

This year’s show is still in progress, but we have begun planning for next year's event. The first step was for the creative group to pick a theme, which yesterday was decided to be ‘dinosaurs’. And being that this is a sign invitational, I had to throw down a gauntlet to my fellow competitors. I stayed up a teeny bit last night and worked up a quick sketch. Today, in a quiet moment, I went over to a printer with a booth on the EXPO floor, and they quickly printed me a t-shirt with my next year’s sign design featuring a T-rex playing an accordion. When I got back to the booth, no words needed to be spoken about next year’s challenge. The contest is on!

Talent

I’ve never really figured out for sure if we are born with talent or just pick it up along the way.  I like to believe we all have a unique talent inside of us - just waiting to be developed and nurtured. Some people draw, some sing, some excel at sports - others are good at doing math type stuff. I know lots of people who are just very good at dealing with people. Which ones are learned skills and which come naturally we may never know for sure. Knowing how it happens isn’t the important thing in my view. 

I believe how much talent we are born with does not determine how far we can take our skills. That is determined by something else I like to call passion. That too may be a genetic trait for all I know.  But I do know folks who have a true passion for something will take what ever raw talent they may possess and develop it much further than those who lack passion. Talent for something is only the starting point - not the finish line. 

I started drawing pretty young. My parents encouraged it. One of my first drawings is shown here. Little did we know at that time that drawing and art would become my life’s passion, although by the first grade it was already fairly apparent. I knew I wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember - without even knowing really what that might involve back then.

Now, many, many decades later this dream, this passion has not faded in the least. I still wake up each morning with ideas in my head and spend each day making these dreams a reality. Even after all these years I devour every scrap of information I can find in the hopes of becoming better at my craft. 

While I may or may not have been born an artist I have certainly lived my life as one. For me it is a purposeful choice each day. It is my sincere wish that everyone can discover their passion and also do at least a little each day making that passion a reality.

Coastal Enterprises

Industry trade shows are a great place to discover what is new and also learn more about the industry we love. But I also love trade shows because I get to reconnect with so many wonderful people whom I’ve crossed paths with through the years. I first met Kelly Miller from Coastal Enterprises about thirty years ago at an industry show. Kelly was at the event to showcase Precision Board (High-Density Urethane) and related products that they manufacture. It was my first introduction to this miracle material, and it wasn’t long until we used a lot of it in our work. We’ve done business with Coastal Enterprises ever since that first meeting and have been proud to partner with them on many projects. To express our gratitude for their wonderful service and products, we often create small pieces and creative samples for them to display in their trade show booth. One of my pieces for this year’s Sign Invitational is displayed in the Coastal Enterprises booth. We appreciate that they have been a proud supporter of the Sign Invitational since its inception and that Kelly will promote the contest and send many people to the main booth, where the rest of the competitors’ pieces are on display. As always, I send a huge thank you to Kelly and Coastal Enterprises!