Rural Missouri - August 2020 - 41

"A lot of this is starting to come back," David says. "It's
not completely dead. There are a few sign painting groups I
belong to that have well over 3,000 members."
If paint will stick to it, David's probably painted it.
Whether he's working on a livestock show sign, mailbox, a
milk can, a shotgun or a game-winning basketball, David's
customers trust him to follow his muse. The result is a
one-of-a-kind piece they're proud to display at the local fair
or in their home. And the artist still finds something new
and exciting every time he sits down to sketch an idea.
"After doing thousands of signs, there's a little bit of a
challenge to come up with something you've never done
before," David says. "You don't want to get in a rut and do
everything the same."
Sources of inspiration from the golden days of handmade signs line the walls of David's shop. Two snarling
beasts from the old Lion's Club Park insignia and the sign
from the Busy Bee laundromat showcase the details that
explain their vintage charm; hand-cut and screen-printed
porcelain, hand-drawn characters and lettering that predates the font libraries found on today's computers.
"It's just kind of got its own look," David says, pointing
at the smiling Busy Bee. "It's hard to pick it out, but you
can look at that and tell it's hand-painted."
Ironically, the quickness and convenience that originally
led to vinyl's rise in the sign business has created a niche
for the old-fashioned methods. In some cases, it's easier
for a skilled painter like David to accomplish effects on
lettering such as highlights or shadowing than it is to print
and apply another set of characters from a vinyl roll.
"If you know what you're doing with paint and a brush,
it's so quick," David says, "and it doesn't quite have that
clean, sterile look."
Another irony is that the man who has painted so many
signs for other businesses only has done one for himself,
and it travels with him wherever he goes on the back of his
pickup. He has no ads and rarely posts photos to his com-

pany's Facebook page, but once established a good sign
painter like David can stay busy through word of mouth.
The list of customers and the signs in progress around the
shop - one for a farm in Cole County here, another for the
Double LL Country Store in Belle there - prove it. Some
of his present-day customers have been with him since the
beginning. Multiple generations have called on the services
of Davis Signs to draw customers into businesses and eyes
to show windows, or to keep dump trucks and over-theroad rigs up to code and looking stylish.
True to his humble nature, David just shakes his
head and laughs, amazed
his love of painting turned
into a second career.
"Signs can be aggravating when there are
too many of them, but
you've got to have them,"
he says with a smile. "I
don't think they're ever
going away."
Contact Davis Signs
at 573-465-6666 or at
daviddavis0182@gmail.
com.

David specializ
es in recaptur
ing
the look of an
tique farm an
d
store signs in
his work.

Rural Missouri - August 2020

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