RLOCreative

Thank you City of Oakland for trusting in me to refurbish one of our town’s most important signs. Sadly time had taken its toll on the sign and it was in desperate need of repair.

You'll see in the before and after photos that I chose to alter the colors of the sign. The previous sign was a reddish-brown with white letters. I chose to change the sign to a shade that matches the town's old brick buildings, and changed the letters to be an antique white which felt more historic in nature.

For anyone who likes details, here’s a list of what was done to bring this sign back to life:
- Initial wash + treatment to kill moss/fungi
- Light sanding
- Scrubbing of steel support beams with wire brush and spray painting with heavy duty anti-rust primer
- Caulking of the top edge, gaps around the frame, and large cracks on front and back of sign
- Repair damaged portions of the frame using wood putty. Also used wood putty to rebuild a couple missing pieces of letters... can you spot them? :)
- Scraping inside of all 299 recessed letters to remove old loose paint
- Hand-painted multiple coats of antique-white inside the letters
- Rolled 3-4 coats of brick red paint onto the support beams and flat surfaces of the sign (the wood was so weathered on the back that I believe I it required 5+ coats back there)

Phew... I'm tired just writing that list, haha. That said, I'm already working on the next signage project... a new sign for City Hall! I'll post behind-the-scenes photos of that project when it's completed!

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P.S. Thank you also to the patient and loyal patrons at the Oakland Tavern who watched me painstakingly work on this sign over the course of several weeks. I know it looked a bit dicey, but thank you for trusting in the process ;)

The best designs often start OFF the computer, with a pencil, a sketchbook, and a little brainstorming session.

That was the approach I took in creating the designs for this summer's melodrama, Choo-Choo Chicanery, (presented by Oakland Community Theater & Car Show).

The goal? To create compelling designs that convey the overarching theme of the play... DECEPTION.

As the name suggests, the play takes place on a train. When thinking about how to represent both the location and theme of the play, the image of a smokestack came to mind. Because smoke is intangible and constantly shifts, I thought it was the perfect symbol of illusions, secrets, or situations that are unclear or deceitful.

The green and moody color scheme was also a calculated choice, meant to represent the greedy motivations of the villain (and also because my research showed that green was a popular color for train cars in the late 1800s).

I had so much fun creating this advertisement and poster. Thank you for the opportunity OCT!

Happy Fourth of July to my Oakland neighbors! Have a fun and safe holiday!

(And thanks again to Oakland Economic Development for giving me a grant that allowed me to buy this chalkboard sign - I love it!)

Thank you Oakland Economic Development for the generous beautification grant! I LOVE my new planters and sidewalk sign!!! I also love all the other improvements I’ve seen around town lately! Nice work!

Between your many beautification projects and the few public-facing projects I’m working on with the city, I feel like Oakland is starting to look pretty darn spiffy!!