Crazy us!

[Dan Sawatzky]

I love going to other's sign shops, especially when they are full of eye candy. It simply blows me away! I marvel at the works displayed, knowing full well the countless hours they represent. It gets me wondering sometimes... just how these folks make a living.

No end of hours are spent learning the various aspects of our craft, no matter what your particular aspect of the trade. I know those driven by this passion would (and often do) practice their craft for just the mere joy of it. Some work 'on the outside' , others do more mundane work in their shop to finance the creative stuff. A very few are able to do what they love full time and sell it in a market wich pays them what it is worth. This requires that the artist also be a good businessman, a rare breed indeed!

Our own shop is loaded, both in and out with my own brand of eye candy... the things which fuel my passion. I would hate to ever calculate what it is truely worth or add up the hours spent... the numbers would be a little crazy, without a doubt. But we are not nearly done... not by a long shot!

I have an endless list of projects I want to tackle, my sketchbook is full of ideas I have yet to try. And each day I manage to add to the list of things we will eventually do around here. Even our house will eventually be a wall-to-wall (inside and out) showcase of our skills.

I make the feeble excuse that it is to show our prospective customers our work. Many pictures are posted on our website, and the portfolio is full of the same. And these pictures do make a sale much easier, for they demonstrate the things we can do as no verbal descrition could ever hope to. I have sold a lot of jobs because it.

The samples, buildings and decore also have allowed us to experiment with new materials, new methods and have been vehicle to learn to operate new equipment. We have trained our staff on our own projects, and also kept them busy and productive in the slow times between projects.

Thankfully we manage to sell enough high end work (its all we do) to finance all the creative projects we do on the side and in the process continually raise the bar to bring in even more creative (and high paying) work.

In the end though the things we do around our shop and home are to keep me happy. I love to surround myself with the things that live in my head. As a good friend of mine says. "Dan lives on planet Pinochio - not in the real world with the rest of us".

Living the dream in Yarrow...

-grampa dan

[Raymond Chapman]

Dan, like you, I've marveled at some of the shops of sign friends. Just this summer I was fortunate to spend a few days with Gary Anderson and his wife, Linda. His studio and home are filled with his creations. After being there I ask the same question as others - when does he have time to work on real jobs?

That was my reaction when visiting Mike Jackson for the first time. Then it was in Moore, and later in Jackson Hole. Each time I just marvel at all the stuff on the walls and even more back in the shop that are "in the process". You begin to wonder if these guys are real.

From what I have observed of these two, they are real and are passionate about what they do. And they simply make better use of time than the rest of us.

As of yet I haven't visited in Sawhatshisname's studio but it is on my list of things to do. And I'm sure that the amazement will overwhelm me just as it has done for all the others that walk into the fantasy land.

Years ago Mike Jackson and I got to visit Gary Anderson's studio while attending the Letterheads on Main Street (1998, I think). Gary had given us a key, so we took advantage of the invitation and drove over to the shop from the Letterhead gathering. While we were standing there just trying to take in all the eye candy, I heard Mike say...."so this is where the magic happens."

I still get the same feeling every time I'm there....and whenever I visit the shops of my hereos, like Nancy and Noella, Noel Weber, Kurt Stoner, Fred Self...and a host of others. Many more are still on my list of places to see.