My company was doing a Halloween party where each team would decorate their corner of the office according to a theme they chose. My team chose a TV show called Twin Peaks that I’d recently (and coincidentally) grown quite fond of.

My contribution to the decor was to paint a copy of the sign from the opening credits saying, “Welcome to Twin Peaks.”

I wanted it to look rustic, and as if it had really been painted on slats. To that end, I ripped a number of 1/4” strips from a couple of 2x4’s and screwed them two brackets on the back, in two halves for ease of transportation. I painted the whole thing with a latex white paint, which was my first mistake – all the subsequent paint had a tendency to bead up on the surface.

I made a grid in pencil, and made a similar grid on one of my reference photos. With both grids in place, I could mark out where various elements and letters appeared appropriately.

I added sky, mountains, trees, and letters with tempera paints. This was my second mistake. I got tempera paints because I thought that they’d see a lot of mileage with my daughter to play with after this project. Turns out the colors were very pale, difficult to work with, and I should have just shelled out for acrylics. Lesson learned.

Even so, it turned out alright. It was well-received by my team, and it went up in my living room after the event.