Wednesday, December 21, 2011

#79 of 90, Hand Painted Signs

On the eighth day of Christmas Molokai gave me;
Eight home made signs,
Seven seals a sleeping,
Six fantails roosting,
Five rubbish trips,
Four ponds of fish,
Three Post-a-Nuts,
Two fighting roosters,
   And one hot bread in a shabby alley. 

This might take a little back story if you haven't been to Molokai. There are no professional sign companys on the island so people have taken production into their own hands. Crudely executed on plywood then nailed to fences and trees the landscape is peppered with signs announcing everything from political agendas to items for sale to fervent pleas to have property returned. There is usually one topic more pressing at any given time. The "no change La'au" signs are fading since the developers were thwarted from paving one of the last truly wild places in Hawaii. Every other sign I found today was against letting a tour boat stop for day. Town meetings blaze with debate over what cruise ships visiting, even one with fewer passengers than an airplane, would mean to Molokai.
I did the painting in the same spirit as the local signs and actually, it was fun to take a more slapdash approach. Maybe I'll start a hand painted sign business. 
 


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