Permanent Fabric markers, Silk screening ink and canvas. 6' x 2'
A few weeks ago I was asked to do a sign for my neighbor's farm stand. I was thrilled to be painting again, and this time on canvas! Carolyn and Jack (my neighbors) grow foodstuffs at their Rising Pheasant Farm and sell them at Eastern Market, the local Detroit farmers market. They sell sunflower shoots (which I, as a result of this job, learned are super delicious! Put them in a sandwich and call me in the morning!), tomatoes, lettuce, garlic, etc... and will soon be making cut flower arrangements, with pheasant feathers.
Both Jack and Carolyn believe in bicycles, so they wanted me to incorporate that into the design, hence the cog in the background. They also had recently bought an abandoned house and are renovating it into their new farmhouse, so I wanted to put a face to their Rising Pheasant Farms. We wanted the sign to have an old-timey feel but with contemporary aspects, so I tried to add some elements of etching in the drawing and used a font that had no real basis in anything historical, and was handwritten. I used permanent fabric markers and screen printing ink to paint it, then ironed it and threw it through the dryer to set the paint.
It was a fun project, and I was very excited to see it among the other farm stand signs (almost all digitally printed on vinyl) the next Friday when I picked up my sunflower shoots.
Here is the banner on my work desk, almost completed. (I have no idea why the coat hanger was there. I think my dog may have been chewing it...)
