The slow part of the painting process is not the applying of the many paint and glaze layers, but rather the drying time in between each coat. This sign will have seven coats of primer, paint and glaze. Two or three more coats of paint will surface the letters. Each coat of paint needs to dry thoroughly before the next one goes on. Our shop fans speed up the process greatly. Yesterday the sign got its double coat of glaze color. The sign looked pristine and white at that stage - but not for long. Today I applied the first of the glazes first thing this morning. The sign looked great but it was only an undercoat.
The next color, a mustardy yellow looked horrible, as I knew it would. The yellow was to provide highlights under the darker shades to follow. At this stage it is easy to doubt myself - wonder what I had done. But I’ve been at that stage many times and knew better. So I set up the shop fans to force the drying time and then pressed on when the time was right.
Today's final color was a medium brown with a touch of grayish purple. This color would best be described as mud. It toned down the mustard yellow in a hurry, but the sign didn't yet look like it would when we finished. At this point I know to simply trust my instincts and experience. After everything dries overnight I'll be putting on the last of the colors to bring it into alignment with the design.
If I squint my eyes just right as I look at the sign I can see it as it will be when it is finished.
Trust me. It will be fine...
-grampa dan