Somehow, I didn't get the April envelopes posted. April is my birthday month so there are some lovely birthday themed envelopes coming up. This one makes me long for cake. There is a local cake that is very popular, Pink Champagne Cake. I wonder if it's just a Des Moines thing. <pause> Nope. It's a real thing - and the photos on Google do it justice. All the recipes I checked online are highly suspect because they are soooo different from one another. Seems like if you make a pink cake you can just call it Pink Champagne Cake.
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When I got back to Des Moines, I figured Denny would be finished with the sign - and set up a time for him to bring it over. We met up - and has done nothing and told me that he waited to tell me in person that he actually wanted to go back to the original idea of painting on wood - and he really wanted to do the painting. He was concerned that I was not going to be happy about this turn of events.
I assured him that I was actually VERY happy that he was taking the reins. Nothing makes me happier than people who have a vision and want to see it through. So, I sent him out to buy the wood and paint the background color and then I transferred the design onto the wood.
It was fun to collaborate. Most of the time when someone asks me to help them with a project - they start to back off and just want me to do the whole thing. That can work out fine. But, in this case - it was going to be a ton of work to paint it in - so I was very happy that Denny really wanted to do all the painting himself.
Here is the finished sign - hanging on a privacy fence - in a narrow space at the side of his house. Most of the garden is in the front and back yard. The fence is probably 7 feet high - and that is a little garden bench on the left. We agreed that he needs to figure out a way to add some plants around it. The other side of the fence faces south - so he needs to find things that will grow in 100% shade. I should have taken some photos of the rest of his yard. It is very colorful.
Here are two more shots that show the process.
Above - the lettering using the computer font for spacing on 11x17 paper - enlarged and with my suggestions on color. It's trimmed to 8 inches high. We had to just imagine the turquoise background and I knew it needed some white flowers. Denny agreed with me. He likes very colorful flowers in his garden but always includes some white flowers. It's nice to note that principles in art and design show up everywhere.
I don't have a photo of the next step which was to trace the one above and even out the lettering so that the capitalized letters fit in with the lower case - and I had a nice black and white outline of the vines.
Below - for the final - which was 30" x 15" - I enlarged the final tracing in 3 parts and spliced it together. The lettering was a little too high and close to the flowers, so I lowered it and then used Saral transfer paper to transfer this to the wood.
This shows the outline. Painted Peace originals are outlined with a wood burning tool. Denny and I talked about that at the very beginning - but then it didn't come up again - until he was done painting. He actually painted right up to edge of the outline which made it look a little bit like the wood burned version. Saral transfer paper left a dark line. And it was even indented a bit because I was pressing pretty hard when I did the outlining.
Of course, when my son saw the sign - he said he wants one for his garden - so I'm guessing at some point I will make one for him.
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