1. I was born to a poor tobacco farmer ,we didn't have indoor plumbing till I was eight.We lost every thing we owned to a hurricaine in the early fifties in Baton Rouge,La,..there was no fema to help.
2. I spent what spare time I had between chores on the family farm drawing on notebook
paper.
3. I went to work in my first
sign shop at fourteen one summer for free to stay out of trouble while my dad worked at the local cigarette factory.
4. I got to go to the Governors School of North Carolina for art in my junior year of high school(free scholastic scholarship,.top 200 students in the state each year).
5. I went to ECU as an art student when computers had their own building with a guard at the door,took honors art subjects.
6. I dropped out of art school to go to work in an outdoor advertising studio as an apprentice
sign painter.
7. I went to work for myself after three years as an outdoor bulletin painter in 1978.
8. I spent twenty five years working all over the southeast as a contractor painting billboards on location for 3M.
9. I also spent between 16 and 25 weeks a year painting race track signage for "Winston Cup Series"(NASCAR) over a twenty year span.
10 Not knowing it at the time I answered countless questions from 3M researchers about paint mixtures and how they could be used on a four color
computer airbrush research project(early research on digital printer prototypes).We also tested alot of the films you folks use when they were still in the experimental stage.
11. I was one of the first group of painters to paint a "wrap" on NASCAR trailers before digital printing took over about ten years later,clients included Kodak,Phillips 66,Bojangles,Hienz ketchup,Interstate Batteries and several others.
12. I bought my first design station in 1990 it was a 12mhz,286 with 2mb of ram and a 20 mb hard drive,with a digitizing tablet...Coreldraw came on three 5 1/4 floppies and was all of 4 mb total. Signlab was on one disk and looked like a 4b dos emulation.Both were versions 1.1
13 I went thru a nasty divorce in 1993 and went to work as a bouncer at age 40 in a road house to have money to eat,my ex took all my earnings in child support after she raped me financially ruining my credit.
14. I ended up getting custody of my three sons and spent the next five years being a single dad and fighting with social services over child support payments to my ex when I had custody,..you figure it out I couldn't.Seems she worked for social services in her county and they were misinformed as to who had actual custody.
15. I'm short tempered to the point and do not like to argue,...I also tend to be confrontational without realizing it until after the fact, the docs say its part of delayed stress syndrome from spending all those years painting at heights and never actually dealing with the fear of falling.
16. I was recomended for "Who's Who" for
sign painting murals and gold leaf in 1995.
17. had my work published in the
sign magazines on more than one instance and even won a national award without ever getting any credit or anyone spelling my name right.It never pays to be a contractor to another shop who is seeking fame and notoriety.
18. After my sons left home for school and the military I spent another ten years painting
signs at race facilities across the Carolinas for IHRA,ARCA and NASCAR.
19.I quit drinking due to the doc's suggestion and many around me think its made me a grouchy old man fast.
20. I really don't have that much respect anymore for the
sign industry and what it has become as talent and hard work have been replaced by financing and marketing as major factors of success.
21. I don't really care what folks think about me as I really feel I have nothing to prove to anyone having been very successful in my own goals and personal achievements set out at the onset of my career,...guess what? I am very egotistical when it comes to my artwork and signwork.
22. I lost an eye to a cataract two years ago when I got some ureathane paint in it by accident,let that be a warning, wear goggles when using a spray gun.
23. I enjoy working on computers,plotters, and now make more money at that than I have been lately painting
signs.
24 I don't paint as many
signs as I do commercial murals and faux, and the pay is alot better.
25. I just` started a course of study at a local technology institute in
computer science and electronical engineering and I am looking forward to a career change at`age 57.