Tomorrow morning I fly to Danville, Illinois to take part in an exciting event. In four short days about 160 sign painters from around the world will complete 15 big murals. As you can imagine the excitement level is high, both here as I prepare and there for the townsfolk of Danville who really have no idea of what will unfold. It’s going to be exciting!
As one small part of the festivities we will be creating a new sign post forest attraction in their town. The world famous one in Alaska was started by a fellow from Danville during the second world war. To honor him, all the artists who are going to Danville will be bringing a sign to mark the distance from their hometown.
I, of course, had to do a sign that was not flat - or ordinary. I decided that since the distance was to a location in Canada I would make it kilometers instead of miles. That’s how we measure distance here. The sign is dimensional of course and features genuine 23 K gold leaf on the lettering and arrow. It also features a sculpture of a cute little bird. Since I like to tell stories with my signs I felt this one should be no different.
The bird is the very rare and elusive ‘Yarrow bird’. He travels extensively but always returns home safe and sound. But he is a peculiar bird since he can’t fly in a straight line. When I noted the milage on the sign I added an extra 100 kilometers to take this into account. The distance marked is as this bird flies.
-grampa dan