For almost ten years I have been involved with my parents' summer businesses as The Sign Painter. It has been fun working as a "conceptual artist," that is, hearing all of my dad's ideas and somehow finding a way to put them on paper, and then sign board. White Bear, Saskatchewan, the place where we have all the businesses operating, is a very unique place. It's a relaxed, slow-paced resort situated on a Native reserve. It has a fairly decent lake, a nice 18-hole golf course (Challenge the Bear), a load of cabins, and a smattering of business at the resort's entrance. Most of those belong to my parents. We've got a mini golf, restaurant, ice cream shop, fruit stand, kids' train ride, and a petting zoo. The area has a happy-go-lucky feel to it, and so hand-painted advertising fits right in.
I have been the primary painter these past several years, and now that things in my life are changing (I'm married, am almost done my degree, who knows where we'll be living next, etc) I spend a lot less time down at White Bear. And so, in the natural order of things, a new painter is dawning. My youngest sister Gina is quite the little artist, and she is quickly aspiring to be the next Ogy's painter. Jenn and I were down in White Bear last weekend to help out a bit. We cut grass, painted signs, helped out in the kitchen, and with the animals. It was a busy and very hot weekend. On the last night there, I was about to head off to Carlyle to fix up one more sign, and my little sister Gina came outside, grabbed ahold of my arm and said, "Can I help paint?" I was surprised and delighted. So the two of us drove off to Carlyle, racing against the decreasing sunlight.
When we arrived, we agreed that I would paint one side, and Gina would paint the other. It was fun. The sign is a double-sided, 4x8 foot sign that sits at the crux of the 13 and 9 highways. I penciled out the letters for Gina, and she did a good job. It was cute to hear her exclaim when some paint would drip, or when she went outside the lines I drew for her. I quickly, and repeatedly reassured her that "painting isn't an exact science. You don't have to be worried about little things like that. Often the black outlining you put on at the end will cover that stuff up. And of course there is always paint thinner." I showed her some tricks for clean-up, and to decrease drippage. We also had some laughs while discussing the various letters in the alphabet, and rated their difficulty when painting them. "W is hard," I'd say, and "So is M," she replied.
Finally the job was done, and all her work looked so good! It's good to know that once I'm off doing other things regularily enough that I can't do it anymore, Dad still has somebody who will be fully capable to paint the next goofy sign. I told Gina she was doing a super job, and that I have full confidence that she'll be a super painter. The she exclaimed, "Cool! We're in the Super Painters Club! Two members!" On the way home we discussed all the rights and priviledges of such a club (like the odorous smell of paint thinner that finds its way into your pours and never leaves, or the paint in the creases of your fingernails that you just can't quite get out no matter how hard you scrub, or the fun of painting something funny, and watching people smile at it).
The biggest part of the fun was creating this little connection between Gina and I. We're 14 years apart in age, and I haven't spent a lot of time with my littlest sisters since I moved out five years ago. This will improve now that the family has moved out to Saskatchewan from BC. So that means there will be many more occassions for the Super Painters Club to unite and create something fun.
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